Law professor demands better understanding of pathologists’ work
July 2006A Professor of Law is to argue that a better understanding of what pathologists do is essential to modern medicine and equally pathologists should respect and understand public opinion.
Margaret Brazier will make the call at a lecture organised by the Pathological Society at The University of Manchester.
Professor Brazier chaired the Retained Organs Commission, which was set up in 2001 after evidence emerged of the removal without consent of thousands of body parts across the UK. It ceased work in 2004.
She said: “Pathology is the medical specialty that is least understood and through the centuries has attracted most suspicion.
“Before the first Anatomy Act in 1832, many anatomists operated on the fringes of the criminal world. The situation got no better as the Act allowed bodies of the poor to be subject of experimentation - there was such outrage that protestors burnt down the anatomy school at Sheffield.”
She added: “Today many people believe, for example, that the Amanda Burton character in the BBC’s “Silent Witness” series is representative of what pathologists do. But nothing could be further than the truth. Much of their work is actually on the living, for example carrying out examinations of organs and tissues excised by surgeons.
“So we must try to bridge the gap between the practice of pathology, on which so much medicine depends, and public understanding.”
The lecture will be at the Roscoe A lecture theatre, The University of Manchester, Brunswick Street on Tuesday, 4 July at 5.30PM and everyone is welcome.
