Two psychiatrists at a national health institution in Chiba Prefecture kept for research purposes the brains of 95 people autopsied at the Medical Examiner's Office in Tokyo without the consent of relatives of the deceased or the proper authorities, it was learned Thursday.
The doctors, whose names have not been revealed, kept the brains in a laboratory at the Tokyo Institute of Psychiatry in Setagaya Ward. The brains were wrapped in paraffin sheets and stored in cardboard boxes, sources at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Public Health Bureau said.
The pair returned 84 of the brains Wednesday, as ordered. It was not disclosed what happened to the remaining 11 stolen organs.