Baby's organs 'stripped for research'

Research into cot death was carried out in Bristol

The mother of a 10-week-old boy who died in his cot fears his organs and body parts were taken without her knowledge.

Sally Savage's son, Harrison, died at home in Keynsham, near Bristol, 14 years ago and his body was taken to the Royal United Hospital (RUH) in Bath.

A post-mortem examination concluded the baby had died from cot death and Mrs Savage, 39, buried her son.

But she said she has discovered that Harrison had been stripped of several organs and body tissue during the examination.

'Very distressing'

She said she believed his body parts were then used for a study into Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) at Bristol Royal Infirmary - without her permission.

Mrs Savage said she had managed to obtain a list of the parts taken from her son.

They allowed me to bury a shell and never told me

Sally Savage

The list includes most of both lungs, the tongue, larynx, cerebellum (part of the brain) and spinal cord.

She alleges most of his heart, aorta, bowel, appendix, bladder, liver, kidneys, testes, trachea and oesophagus were also taken.

Mrs Savage says she found out her son's body parts had been retained when she started asking questions in the wake of the report into the Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI) heart babies scandal last year.

She described the experience as "very distressing" and said she had so far been unable to obtain any definitive answers from either the RUH or BRI about what her son's organs had actually been used for.

Research fears

She added that she feared they were used as part of a study into cot death in the old county of Avon in the late 1980s, which was conducted at the BRI.

Mrs Savage said: "It is very difficult - devastating does not actually describe it.

"I asked them when they took my son away to treat him with some dignity and respect but I do not feel they have done that.

"They allowed me to bury a shell and never told me. They allowed me to carry on with the funeral.

"They never thought they would have to tell me."

In a statement, the RUH said it could not comment on individual cases.

It did say an agreed protocol had allowed organ and tissue samples to be retained to aid coroners' postmortems during the SIDS study in Avon.