South Australian Consolidated Acts

TRANSPLANTATION AND ANATOMY ACT 1983 - SECT 38

38—Offences in relation to removal of tissue

        (1)         A person shall not—

            (a)         remove tissue other than blood from the body of a living person for use for a purpose specified in section 9, 10 or 13 except in pursuance of a consent that is under Division 4 of Part 2 sufficient authority for the person to remove the tissue for use for that purpose; or

            (b)         remove blood from the body of a living person for transfusion or a use specified in section 18 except in pursuance of a consent that is under Division 5 of Part 2 sufficient authority for the removal of the blood; or

            (c)         remove tissue from the body of a deceased person for a purpose or use referred to in section 21(1) or 22(1) except in pursuance of an authority that is under Part 3 sufficient authority for the person to remove the tissue for that purpose or use; or

            (d)         conduct a post-mortem examination of the body of a deceased person unless the post-mortem examination is made in pursuance of an authority that is under Part 4 sufficient authority for the person to conduct the post-mortem examination; or

            (e)         in conducting a post-mortem examination of the body of a deceased person in pursuance of an authority referred to in paragraph (d), remove tissue from the body of a person except for a purpose for which that authority is under Part 4 sufficient authority; or

            (f)         use the body of a deceased person for the purposes of anatomical examination or the study and teaching of the anatomy of the human body except in pursuance of an authority that is under Part 5 sufficient authority for the use of the body; or

            (g)         carry out an anatomical examination of the body of a deceased person otherwise than at a school of anatomy established or deemed to have been established under Part 6.

Maximum penalty: $20 000.

        (2)         A designated officer for a hospital who issues an authority under this Act—

            (a)         without having made any of the inquiries that he is required to make under this Act; or

            (b)         without making such inquiries as are reasonable in the circumstances of the case,

is guilty of an offence.

Maximum penalty: $5 000.

        (3)         Nothing in subsection (1) applies to or in relation to—

            (a)         any act for which a person is not, by reason of section 36, criminally liable; or

            (b)         anything done in pursuance of an order by the State Coroner or the Coroner's Court under the Coroners Act 2003 ; or

            (c)         any other act authorised by law.