Sick losers at UNSW

[Grim Reaper]

Grim has always been of the view that sick perverted fuckwits worked at this university. This seems like a job that would be right up Brucey Willis alley.


The University of NSW has apologised to the families of people whose remains were donated for anatomy classes following a scandal over the abuse of body parts.

The university's school of anatomy had its licence to conduct anatomy classes revoked after an audit revealed remains were sexually interfered with, and piled together in coffins.

Police are investigating claims about the mistreatment of cadavers, including fondling of breasts and vaginas, and using a head for degrading purposes.

The audit also revealed serious problems with labelling and storage of cadavers.

The university's deputy vice-chancellor Professor Richard Henry said that, while no formal contact had yet been made to the families of body donors, he did have a message for them.

"We'd like to apologise for any distress those families are suffering at the moment," he told ABC Radio.

"The difficulty is we are still trying to fully understand what happened.

"We are caught in the balance of not wanting to unnecessarily concern the families and at the same time we don't want to fail to apologise."

The university was still in the process of identifying which bodies had been involved but, once that was done, it would personally contact relatives, he said.

Professor Henry denied that the university had known about the allegations for three years.

The claims concerning a laboratory staff member and a supervisor had come to light only in October last year when two other staff members made the allegations under protected disclosure, he said.

The accused staff member no longer works at the university while the supervisor has accused university authorities of ignoring attempts to blow the whistle on the abuse for three years.

Professor Henry said the university had no interest in making the supervisor, who stands accused of overseeing the mislabelling of body parts, or anyone else a scapegoat.

"Our overriding concern is to fully understand what happened and to address any deficiencies," he said.

"The people who really matter are the families of the people who donated their bodies."

Professor Henry said that, while the university had left the claims of sexual abuse to the police, it was closely investigating the issue of mislabelling and storage.

The investigations had uncovered "inadequacies" in lab procedures, which the university was hoping to resolve, he said.

The university planned to upgrade the laboratory, which is used to train surgeons rather than medical students, who use an unrelated facility at the campus, and microchip body parts, he said.

Disciplinary proceedings had also led to staff being stood down and moved on, the professor said.

UNSW's vice-chancellor Fred Hilmer later released a statement, saying four university staff were involved in the investigation.

"A senior member of the medical faculty has stood aside, one employee has resigned and the processes are continuing in relation to two other members of staff," he said.

"Internal disciplinary procedures were also instituted by the dean of medicine Professor Peter Smith."

Prof Hilmer said the identities of staff members who came forward last October with allegations about the mishandling of body parts would be protected.

He said the university had a responsibility under the Protected Disclosures Act to protect their identities.

Prof Hilmer said he was taking the issue seriously and the surgical skills laboratory involved in the scandal remained closed.

"New systems are being introduced for the labelling and storage of body parts," Professor Hilmer said.

"The university will not reapply for the anatomy licence governing the lab until it is satisfied that all of these issues have been addressed."

AAP