Organ scandal report savages hospital

LIVERPOOL, England -- Senior staff at a children's hospital may face criminal charges after the extent of a scandal over the stockpiling of body parts was made public.

Procedures used for removing and retaining organs were branded "gross and excessive" as corpses were "systematically stripped" of their body parts at Alder Hey hospital, England.

Sweeping changes to the system for removing body parts have been recommended in a 600-page report into procedures at the Liverpool hospital.

Thousands of organs, heads and foetues were secretly removed from patients who died at Alder Hey and stored -- sometimes against the express wishes of relatives -- for years without being used.

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The official inquiry into the scandal found one doctor -- Professor Dick van Velzen, a Dutch cot death expert and pathologist -- lied to parents, stole records and falsified reports during his time at Alder Hey.

He, along with other senior staff, could now face criminal prosecution following the publication of the inquiry's report.

The independent inquiry was ordered last year after it emerged that organs from dead children were removed and retained.

Following publication of the report, on Tuesday, Van Velzen, who is currently on extended leave from the Westeinde hospital in The Hague and who was head of pathology at Alder Hey from 1988 to 1995, has been called before the General Medical Council.

Four other National Health Service staff, including Alder Hey's chief executive, have been suspended, while the acting chairman of the hospital's trust and two non-executive directors of the trust have resigned.

Health Secretary Alan Milburn told Members of Parliament that the inquiry report had been passed to Merseyside Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions -- who will decide whether to pursue criminal prosecutions.

Ed Bradley, chairman of the Alder Hey parents support group Pity II, said: "Everyone involved in this scandal has already suffered the enormous grief of losing a child.

"The added insult was that parents then discovered that the child had been stripped of its organs -- and in some families more than one child was involved.

"To date, Alder Hey and the university have failed to apologise for the removal and retention of organs without consent."

Of the role played by van Velzen, he said: "Although we have always maintained that this was not only the work of one rogue pathologist, as Alder Hey would have us believe, the harsh reality is that Professor van Velzen systematically and deliberately abused his position.

The inquiry team, chaired by Michael Redfern QC, started to hear evidence behind closed doors last spring.

His report catalogued a series of practices which were described as "unethical and illegal."

The Redfern report said the inquiry found no evidence that the medical profession ever tried to operate the Human Tissue Act, governing the retention of organs.

At a press conference, Redfern, who described van Velzen's conduct as "gross and excessive," said: "Children were systematically stripped of organs, which were then accumulated and remained unused for a period of many years."

More than 2,000 children's hearts, over 1,500 stillbirth foetuses as well as brain parts and other organs were stored by the hospital.

Milburn said: "The pain caused to the parents by this dreadful sequence of events is unforgivable. I am deeply sorry."

After presenting the findings of the report to MPs, Milburn later said that van Velzen was also under investigation in Canada for his activities there.

"There is some evidence that medical records were taken from this country and ended up in Canada," the health secretary said.

"The Canadian authorities are currently investigating that and as a matter of information, I can say that a copy of the report will be passed ... to the medical regulatory bodies in Canada, Holland and in other EU countries."

The Redfern report coincides with the publication of a report by chief medical officer Professor Liam Donaldson into the issue of informed consent and the retention of organs across the UK.

The report revealed that body parts were stored for teaching and research at some 25 hospitals which accounted for 88 percent of retained organs, at least 16,500 of which were retained in contravention of the law.

*The full Redfern report and summary is available at www.rlcinquiry.org.uk.

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Alder Hey Children's Hospital
Department of Health
Redfern Inquiry Report

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