Indiscriminate disposal of museum specimens – a case report.

ABSTRACT

The human body and its parts and organs are invariably used in medical teaching institutions for academic purposes. Legal provisions for the preservation of such specimens are made in anatomy Acts across the country. However, after they have been used, the specimens are not disposed of in a proper manner. This is a public menace and forces the authorities concerned to carry out unnecessary investigations. We report a case in which the bodies of two foetuses that were brought for medico-legal autopsy were later found to be formalin-preserved “museum specimens” that had been used for anatomical study. We wish to emphasise the need for guidelines for the proper disposal of anatomical museum specimens.