Gunther von Hagens, the pioneer of body plastination—the technique of preserving bodies by saturating them with polymer resin—and who was criticised for his televised autopsy in London, is under investigation in the former Soviet state of Kyrgyzstan and in Heidelberg, Germany.
He is accused of using bodies without permission and of falsely carrying the title of professor from Heidelberg University. However, in both cases he denies any illegal acts and accuses the other side of misinformation.
Since 1995 he has carried out plastination not only in his Heidelberg institute but also in a private institute in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan's capital. After about 200 bodies of unexplained origin were recently found in his institute a Kyrgyz member of parliament, Abakon Taschtanbekow, accused Professor von Hagens of having illegally abducted several hundred bodies from former Soviet prisons, hospitals, and psychiatric asylums.
Mr Taschtanbekow claims that in most cases obligatory autopsies of the bodies were not carried out and relatives were not informed that the bodies were being sent to Professor von Hagens's institute.
Two weeks ago Professor von Hagens was questioned by a parliamentary committee in Kyrgyzstan and denied using the bodies illegally. He said that rather than hundreds only nine bodies were available from Kyrgyzstan, none of them for show in his exhibitions. However, he admitted that he did not know whether the families were informed about the death of their relative.
About a month ago Heidelberg University accused him of giving the impression that he was carrying the title of a German professor by calling himself "Professor Gunther von Hagens Körperwelten" (Körperwelten is German for Body Worlds), an allegation now under investigation by the Heidelberg district attorney. Furthermore, the university said that in China Professor von Hagens had pretended to be anatomy professor at Heidelberg University in his negotiations, as shown by a document in Chinese.
Professor von Hagens claims that he uses his lawfully received titles as guest professor in Dalian Medical University, China, and honorary professor at the State Medical Academy of Kyrgyzstan. He had successfully applied to authorities in Düsseldorf to use his Chinese title and never wanted to pretend that his title was gained in Heidelberg. He said that it was not he who came up with the particular combination of title and name but the managing director of Body Worlds, his wife Angelina Whalley.
Body Worlds, which is still receiving criticism and media attention, is about to move from Hamburg to Frankfurt.