Service facing deadline to match organs

Ontario's Forensic Pathology Service said it still has 4,000 human organs that were removed during autopsy and time is running out for families to claim them. The organs were removed from the deceased in the 1970s without family permission, the Toronto Star reported, and were used for testing. The service hopes to return the organs to family members of the deceased as possible before June 14, the date when organs removed before June 2010 legally can be destroyed. Doctors deliberately did not tell families about removing an organ for decades, and the service announced the wrongdoing in a press conference last year. Since the service began advertising the program, about 400 cases have been opened and 80 organs have been successfully matched. The province is paying for cremation or burial of the organs, the Toronto Star reported. In June 2010, legislation was passed that now forces doctors to obtain permission before retaining an organ.