Hospital to return body parts

Press, 16 May 1985, Page 26

Hospital to return body parts

PA Auckland Maori patients who want body parts returned after surgery for burial have been assured of this right by Middlemore Hospital’s acting superintendent, Dr Gay Keating. Dr Keating said there was no problem if people wanted their limbs or organs back — all they had to do was ask.

The response came a year after the former Minister of Health, Mr Aussie Malcolm, told hospitals to end “cultural insensitivity” and give after-births back to Maori women.

Dr Keating said that any person, regardless of their race, could claim their body parts back from the hospital.

Several Maori elders said they welcomed the hospital’s recognition of Maori cultural needs, in that all parts of the body must be returned to Papatuanuku

(earth mother), the rightful owner.

the former chairman of the National Council of Maori Nurses, Ms Pia Makiha, said she expected Maori people aged 30 onwards to take advantage of the offer. “These people are aware of their Maori consciousness and spirituality.” Ms Makiha said she had never heard of people asking for their body parts back, but once Maori people knew about it, they would begin to ask, she said.

“There was the same lack of response before Maori women knew they were allowed their after-birth back,” she said.

Dr Keating said Maori women regularly asked for their placentas back, but none had ever asked for the return of amputated limbs. He said the body parts could probably be given to the patient before he left hospital, after the usual laboratory tests and procedures.