SIGNIFICANT SHORTCOMINGS in postmortem procedures and practices at Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital have been uncovered in a new report, which found organs in more than 100 cases had been retained without consent between 2000 and 2007.
It also found evidence of hospital records being completed or signed retrospectively, of consent for postmortems being obtained retrospectively, of some records going missing, and in many instances postmortem reports taking much longer than the recommended six weeks to complete.
But the report, compiled for the Health Service Executive by Ian Carter, chief executive of St James’s Hospital, found no one person had responsibility for ensuring high performance in this area at management level in the hospital.
Yesterday Rotunda master Dr Sam Coulter-Smith apologised as letters were dispatched to families affected by the latest organ retention controversy informing them of the debacle.
Minister for Health Mary Harney said she had been assured by the Rotunda that what happened between 2000 and 2007, which was “totally unacceptable”, would not happen again.
The HSE said its practices would be audited every six months for the next two years to ensure improvements were put in place.
One consultant pathologist at the hospital, mentioned only as consultant A in the report, identified himself as John Gillan in a statement issued to the media in which he said there was nothing to hide.
The report found he had completed records retrospectively but he said this was undertaken at the request of hospital management.
The HSE confirmed he had been “taken off” postmortem duty in December 2007 but still works in the Rotunda as a general pathologist.
The hospital said the report raised serious issues in relation to professional performance, which it was examining. Meanwhile the HSE also published yesterday an independent audit of postmortem practices at 35 other hospitals and five universities. It noted there were 21,487 organs retained at the time of the audit, 78 per cent of which related to periods prior to 2000. These include some foetuses that are unidentifiable.
The HSE is now inviting families to reclaim these organs for burial through advertisements in today’s papers. The general audit raised concerns about embalming practices across the State, saying “the current level and standard of practice in most cases is not acceptable”.
It also noted the postmortem examination suite at the national surveillance centre for CJD was not fit for purpose, that incineration of organs at some hospitals up to 2007 was “disrespectful and totally unacceptable”, and that while the storage of organs across the State was mostly acceptable, there were some examples of unacceptable practices, including organs in containers “kept on surfaces and floors rather than locked away in cupboards”.