By
The Associated Press
LONDON - Doctors at a prominent hospital removed hearts, brains, eyes and heads from thousands of dead children without the consent of their parents, a government report published yesterday has found.
Health Secretary Alan Milburn told lawmakers that Dutch pathologist Dick Van Velzen, who was responsible for post-mortem examinations at the Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital, Alder Hey, between 1988 and 1995, had "systematically ordered the unethical and illegal stripping of every organ from every child who had a post-mortem."
Milburn said the report found Van Velzen lied to parents, other doctors and hospital managers; that he stole medical records, falsified reports and encouraged others to do the same. The report, which was referred to police for possible criminal prosecution, recommended he have his medical license revoked.
"The pain caused to the parents by this dreadful sequence of events is unforgivable," Milburn said.
Besides more than 2,000 children's hearts, a large number of brain parts, eyes taken from fetuses, over 1,500 stillbirths or fetuses and a number of children's heads and bodies were obtained without consent, Milburn told lawmakers.
In a related report published Tuesday, England's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Liam Donaldson said more than 100,000 hearts, brains, lungs and other organs were held by hospitals and medical schools across the country, many without the knowledge of next-of-kin. In some cases, organs were removed illegally, his report said.
Grieving relatives were not told that by signing a consent form for a post mortem examination they were allowing pathologists to strip their loved ones of many of their organs, the related report concluded.
Donaldson recommended major changes in the law.
"The unsatisfactory nature of the agreement forms, the lack of information and the lack of counseling support or advice when a signature was being sought at a distressing time suggests that in many cases, agreement to retention fell well short of being fully informed consent," he said.
Revelations that Alder Hey was keeping infants' organs emerged in 1999 during an inquiry into the high number of pediatric cardiac deaths at the Bristol Royal Infirmary.
Van Velzen left Liverpool in 1995 to go to Canada, where he ran the pathology department at a Halifax children's hospital for two years until he was fired in 1998.
In September, Canadian police issued a warrant for his arrest after warehouse workers discovered eight organs thought to belong to two 5-year-old children. He was charged with indecent interference with a dead body, which carries a five-year prison sentence.
Van Velzen is currently on leave from the Westeinde Hospital in The Hague. The hospital said Van Velzen would not be available to comment and that hospital officials would review the report.
