The complaint follows an investigation by L’Express magazine in November 2019 which revealed thousands of bodies donated for research had been left to decay in unsanitary conditions at The Centre for Body Donations at Paris-Descartes University.
The paper reported dozens of bodies were stored “nude, decomposing, piled up on gurneys, their eyes wide open”.
It found rooms infested with rats and described the centre as "a mass grave in the heart of Paris".
Some bodies and body parts were allegedly sold to private companies for use in car crash tests. A body could be sold for as much as €900 euros and a limb for €400.
'Deplorable' behaviour
The families are filing a complaint for “violation of the integrity of the human body”.
Laurence Dezelé is one of them. When, in 2015, her mother knew she was dying of pancreatic cancer, she chose to donate her body to science.
“I tried to dissuade her in the beginning, saying it was a kind gesture but that medical students weren’t always very respectful,” Dezelé told France Inter public radio.
“She insisted things had changed and there wouldn’t be that kind of problem.”
When Dezelé heard about the scandal she initially felt overwhelmed but decided to fight back.
“What they did was deplorable and I realised others families were necessarily affected.
“Our families did all that for the sake of medicine, and it wasn’t respected. Some bodies couldn’t be dissected because they were rotten! What kind of world are we living in?”
Ongoing investigation
Following the revelations, the Paris Prosecutor opened an investigation into the centre’s conduct and the facility has remained closed since November.
The newspapers findings cover the period 2008 to 2018 and were based on photos taken inside the facility from 2016.
The pictures came from a document handed to Frederic Dardel, the university’s former president, by Professor Richard Douard, head of the centre between 2014 and 2017.
According to Le Figaro newspaper, Douard resigned in October 2017 due to the "inertia of public authorities".
The university has acknowledged the investigation and apologised to the families of body donors.
In a statement on its website it promised to "establish the reality of the facts" and admitted the centre’s practices had fallen short of “societal demands for respect of dignity”.
“We want those responsible to be found and punished,” said Dezelé, however high up in they are,” adding that better regulation was needed.
Tightening up regulation
On 28 January the Senate voted to amend the bioethics law, currently going through parliament, to better regulate the conditions in which bodies are donated for research purposes.
According to Health Minister Agnès Buzyn some 3,400 bodies were donated to different donation centres in 2017 with "no precise regulations”.
The amendment would mean people choosing to donate their bodies “for medical teaching or research” purposes will have to provide "written and express consent".
In addition, donations would only be made to medical, teaching or research establishments which had received authorisation from the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation.
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