Undignified treatment of corpses

Insensitive disposal of aborted foetuses and miscarried babies

Incidence

At least one-fifth of UK hospitals and pathology laboratories incinerated babies born before 28 weeks of pregnancy with hospital waste. After 28 weeks, a baby is classified as stillborn and has to be registered and buried or cremated, either by the parents or the hospital, although this does not preclude its disposal along with surgical and other biological hospital waste.

Uncircumcised Jewish corpses have been circumcised after death, both with and without family consent and despite the fact that the man may have refused circumcision while alive.

Claim

Corpses donated to science have been used for experimental purposes in circumstances other than those generally accepted by society, for example in forensic science and road accident research. Already handling the corpse to medical authorities is tantamount to its direct destruction: the corpse suffers a slow process of deterioration caused by multiple dissections and ablations; afterwards it is incinerated along with other human remains without a decent burial.