ORGAN RETENTION:THE ROTUNDA Hospital pathologist named in the HSE inquiry report only as "consultant A" has identified himself and said "there is nothing to hide".
In a letter to his colleagues which he issued to the media, John Gillan, a consultant pathologist, said while the Rotunda retained organs for longer than many hospitals, no other hospital had a higher detection rate into the cause of perinatal death.
He said he had to work alone for prolonged periods because of the reduced consultant provision. The delays were “deeply regrettable” but the full explanations of the cause of death was of interest to parents who might have hoped to have other children.
The report noted that in December 2007 consultant A was “freed up” from clinical commitments to address issues linked to the national audit. Concerns were subsequently raised by independent auditors and the work was stopped immediately.
The inquiry found many postmortem reports were incomplete and in 31 cases, were completed retrospectively, “not necessarily as a result of purely work pressure”.
In his statement Mr Gillan said: “Although consent was given to retain and examine organs of stillbirths for 12 months, some of these were retained for longer. We have a choice between quick examinations or thorough examinations to determine cause of perinatal death. We take longer than many other hospitals but no one across the world has a higher rate of such detections than our Rotunda Hospital in Dublin. The UK diagnostic rate for stillbirths, ie the leading form of perinatal death, is 46 per cent (CEMACH, UK) whereas our hospital achieves a 94 per cent diagnostic rate. As was noted in the HSE inquiry (Carter report) published today (Thursday 23rd July) there was reduced consultant provision for postmortem practice during this critical period. “For prolonged periods, I had to work alone. The price of this was that – to maintain the very highest medical standards – we had to cause some parents to wait longer than the 12 months to which they consented. This is deeply regrettable but the alternative would be that many parents would not have had such thorough explanations for their loss.”
