Doctors 'took organs from babies'

The Alder Hey scandal sparked an inquiry and legislation

The High Court has heard details of how organs were removed from three dead babies without family consent.

The cases were spelled out on the first day of an action for compensation brought by more than 2,000 individual claimants.

All say that they had no idea that their relatives' organs had been removed and retained by doctors.

They are seeking compensation comparable to the £5,000 paid out to families in the Alder Hey scandal.

Richard Lissack QC focused on the cases of babies Rosina Harris, Daniel Carpenter and Laura Shorter.

Brains taken

Rosina, from Dorchester, Dorset, died three days after her birth in October 1995, and Laura, whose mother lives in the Oxford area, was born dead in October 1992.

The bodies of both girls were returned to their parents - but only after major organs, including in both cases the brain, had been removed.

Neither family was informed of the truth until 2001.

Mr Lissack described how Rosina's mother Karen used regularly to visit her daughter's grave, but stopped going for nearly two years, and was now consumed by guilt whenever she did.

There is nothing unusual in these cases Richard Lissack QC

Daniel died aged 17 months in February 1987 after surgery to remove a brain tumour at Southampton Hospital.

It was only 14 years later that his parents were informed by letter that his brain had been retained, and later disposed of.

His parents would not have given permission for his organs to be removed and retained, if asked, let alone discarded, said Mr Lissack. Since his mother found out, she had been unable to visit his grave.

Mr Lissack told the court: "There is nothing unusual in these cases. They represent the norm."

Earlier, he described the practice of stripping organs from the dead without seeking consent as morally, ethically and legally "objectionable".

He said that although the families sought a fair level of compensation, no amount of money could adequate compensate them for the trauma they had been through.

Sally Smith QC, for the NHS Litigation Authority, said doctors in all three cases had provided outstanding care, and acted with great sensitivity.

She rejected claims that - in the case of Rosina and Laura - doctors had simply ignored relative's express wishes that organs should not be removed.

"These are the self-same people who cared for these children, who got to know them and who are praised for their care by the claimants.

"Why should their devoted professionalism suddenly cease?"

She said nothing that the doctors had done was unlawful, and reminded the court there had been a sea-change in accepted practice since the Alder Hey case.

New laws

The government is currently introducing new laws to ban the retention of organs without consent in the wake of the scandal at Alder Hey Children's Hospital on Merseyside.

Last year the families of children whose organs were removed at the hospital received £5,000 each.

But the families who have launched the new action, who come from many different parts of England and Wales, say they were only offered £1,000 each from the NHS.

The Alder Hey scandal, which came to light in the 1990s, led to an audit across the health service which had prompted hundreds more families to come forward demanding compensation.

Parents discovered that in some cases, following the death of their children in hospital, the bodies had been returned for burial or cremation minus one or more internal organs.

Occasionally this resulted in a second, or even third, funeral as parents demanded the return of these parts, years after the death of their child.

The hearing is expected to last for around two weeks.