The Government inquiry into the organ controversy at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Dublin, must be expanded to include all hospitals, following serious allegations about post-mortem practices, campaigners warned yesterday.
"We have had complaints about almost every hospital in the State," according to Ms Fionnuala O'Reilly, spokeswoman for Parents for Justice. The group, which lobbied for the investigation at the Crumlin hospital, said it had received over 2,000 complaints about the removal of organs from children and adults during post-mortem examinations, without the permission of next of kin.
Some of the complaints were "very alarming", Ms O'Reilly said. She said legal action was pending in at least two cases. In one the brain of a dead person had been removed without consent of the next of kin and in another case, the hospital confirmed that organs had been removed but staff refused to tell the relatives which organs were taken.
The Minister for Health and Children, Mr Martin, established the inquiry to investigate all post-mortem examinations, organ removal, organ retention and organ disposal at Our Lady's Hospital. However, the scope of the inquiry could be expanded. The Minister is consulting the Attorney General about its terms of reference.
Revelations that pituitary glands from dead children at Our Lady's had been given to a pharmaceutical firm gave a new dimension to the investigation, Ms O'Reilly said.
The Parents for Justice Group dealt with up to 150 calls in the wake of the revelation, both new inquiries and those from parents whose inquiries had previously been dealt with and who were now concerned that they should return and ask if their child's pituitary glands were removed.
Carlow-Kilkenny TD Mr John McGuinness, who tabled questions on the issue in the Dail, said he was confident the inquiry would reveal other commercial arrangements between hospitals and companies.
The Faculty of Pathology at the Royal College of Physicians is due to issue revised guidelines on post-mortem practices in the coming days. Faculty dean Dr Michael Madden said the guidelines would stress that consent had to be obtained for any material that was retained for teaching and research purposes.
Labour Health spokesperson Ms Liz McManus said the revelations about children's organs highlighted the lacuna in the law that existed. "We urgently need legislation which will establish rules of best practice for medical professionals in the handling and treatment of human tissue," she said. "Work on this legislation must begin straight away."
Fine Gael spokesperson on health Mr Alan Shatter welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Health of the inquiry into the retention without parental consent of organs of deceased children at Crumlin children's hospital. "This inquiry must be comprehensive and must be undertaken with both speed and sensitivity," he said.