Organ baby families ask for apology

Melissa Shelton runs a support group for parents

Thousands of parents whose dead children's organs were retained by hospitals should receive an apology and individual explanation, according to a lawyer.

Mervyn Fudge represents about 2,000 parents whose organs were kept.

Along with financial compensation from the NHS, Mr Fudge said parents want personal letters from the different health trusts.

He said: "That would go a long way to alleviating the stress.

Basically they'd stripped him of all of his organs and they had been stored in buckets

Melissa Shelton

"You can never compensate the families for what has happened.

"The stress they have suffered is appalling."

Among the parents is Melissa Shelton, from Hucknall, whose baby son Taylor died two days after he was born from a blood disorder.

Ms Shelton investigated Taylor's fate after hearing of the organ retention scandal at Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital.

She contacted the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham and learned Taylor's organs were also kept.

Taylor Shelton died from a blood disorder

"They did tell us that basically they'd stripped him of all of his organs and they had been stored in buckets at the hospital," she said.

"When they told me what they had, it was horrendous."

Ms Shelton now runs a support group for bereaved parents like her in the Nottingham area.

She says she is pursuing the case in memory of her dead son.

"You bury your child and that's bad enough, but then you have to do it again... it shouldn't have happened."

A judge in Nottingham is due to decide on Thursday when Ms Shelton's compensation case will be heard.