Updated

Two British men, who were forced to have their legs surgically removed, said they should have had the right to keep their amputated limbs at home, The Metro reported.

Gareth Ferrin, 31, and Robert Brownlow, 53, from Loughborough, central England, wanted to embalm their legs and keep them, so they could be placed in their caskets when they die.

But Leicestershire National Health Service (NHS) Trust denied their request and incinerated the amputated limbs as "clinical waste."

"I think burying the legs would have helped me to move on and get to grips with what had happened,” said Ferrin, who had both legs removed following blood poisoning. "They are a part of me. I should get to decide what happens to them," he added.

"They told me I couldn't keep it because it was biological waste. Because it was infected it would be a health and safety risk," Brownlow, who lost his right leg, said.

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust said patients rarely ask to keep a body part following removal surgery, but requests would be treated on an individual basis.