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NYC Deceased Hit the Chopping Block if Not Claimed Within 48 Hrs

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Queens Assemblyman Michael Simanowitz(left) is on a mission with New York State Senator Simcha Felder(right), a democratic representative from Brooklyn, to change to the law that requires morgues and hospitals to transfer unclaimed bodies to educational institutions after 48 hours.

Two state lawmakers are on a mission to change the law that requires morgues and hospitals to transfer unclaimed bodies to educational institutions after just two days.

Michael Simanowitz, Queens’s assemblyman states “the issue is that basically unclaimed bodies are being released without any sort of consideration of the person’s religious or personal beliefs on whether or not they want to be used for such practices.”

Simanowitz was a sponsor for changed legislation with state senator Simcha Felder, a democratic representative from Brooklyn. The assemblyman argues that the law, as it stands, ignores religious beliefs; specifically, Jewish orthodox practice that stipulates bodies must return to the earth unaltered.

Simanowitz and Felder are hoping to amend legislation by June- the end of the Legislature’s session. Julie Bolcer, a spokeswoman for the city medical examiner’s office, said it was currently reviewing the proposed legislation. The prospective adopted legislature would compel hospitals and morgues to gain authorization from next of kin before giving a body over for science.

In the event that next of kin cannot be established, the bill’s conditions presuppose that the family would contest the dissection and autopsy leaving the body for burial- not for academic purposes. “What we are trying to do is create a little more clarity” says Simanowitz. He continued “If there is no clear consent, it should not be assumed they are OK with their bodies going to science.”

A lawsuit filed this March by New York City’s Mortuary School, The American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service sparked the call for Legislation said Simanowitz. The city’s only mortuary school wanted to restart the 50-year practice of handing-over cadavers for their classes. The Academy accused the city of infringing on state law when it stopped the practice last year.

The academy will not give up the fight easily as it is at risk of losing accreditation with a lack of cadavers.

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