Have you ever sent stuff to a government office? They work according to rules and prescedent. Things get misplaced - and the longest distance ever is that between two bureaucrats.
Not even at Burger King can one have it their way without asking.
Yeah I have sent stuff to a gov. office in the past.... and will be doing so again shortly...... it's sorta one of the reasons why i have collections on my ass as it is..... because they didn't do their damn jobs properly based on the procedures dictated.... but somehow them misplacing several forms sent into them by me is my fault, even when I personally dropped them off to the office and made sure they got it..... somehow that got misplaced too.
So don't tell me about the government and their dumb-ass rules and prescedent, because they have to follow those rules in order for them to matter. They are human, just like everybody else, and can screw up more often then not..... and last I checked, they have no procedures that claim they have rights to keep organs and other body parts for their own personal reasons against the wishes of the family..... and if they don't know those wishes, they should ask.
The difference with Burger King, is that when you order something, you know what you are getting, because they describe or show a diagram of what is included..... normally you request things to be added or taken off based on the given information..... but where is the information for these guys claiming they can keep body parts when every they wish, as they wish?
Family members who are trying to deal with a dead family member are not autopsy experts, they're not the one's who went to university/college to learn all the ins and outs of what they do, which is why they should be explained to the families before they take action.
and as stated in the report above that they signed no forms allowing them to keep any organs after the autopsy, and if they knew that organs and/or other body parts were going to be kept, common sense would state that they wouldn't have permitted them to perform in autopsy in the first place.