Plaidoyer pour un encadrement de la recherche scientifique sur le cadavre en médecine légale

Scientific research in thanatological forensics is difficult because the legal framework governing research on samples from cadavers is not tailored to the legal context. In reality, teams must first obtain authorization from the French Biomedicine Agency. Research can then only be carried out if the person did not object during their lifetime to samples being taken post-mortem. This search for non-opposition is conducted first by consulting the French Refusals Register then by confirming the person's non-opposition stance with their families. Such provisions are very difficult to enforce in a legal context. Firstly, the search for non-opposition is problematic. Forensic teams may consult the register but it is difficult to confirm the non-opposition stance with families. In addition, the French Biomedicine Agency often considers that as a body, it is not competent to rule on these protocols, due to the legal context of the autopsy. It appears necessary to adapt the legal conditions in order to ensure that this search can occur under the proper conditions. A first step would be to amend the legal conditions to allow research to be performed on forensic samples. The first two amendments would be to explicitly acknowledge the possibility of conducting research on these samples, as well as the competence of the French Biomedicine Agency. The third amendment would be to adapt the conditions governing the search for non-opposition. More reflection must take place in order to enable forensic scientific research in a wider framework, given that a key difficulty remains the search for non-opposition of the deceased party.