Parents learn the truth about Alder Hey 'hospital of horrors'

By JEREMY LAWRENCE

LONDON - A veil has been lifted on one of the most gruesome chapters in the history of Britain's National Health Service.

The horror of what happened at Liverpool's Alder Hey children's hospital, exposed by an inquiry, has appalled parents and shocked MPs, and could lead to a criminal prosecution.

The grisly secrets of the illegal post-mortem examinations were revealed in the report of the Royal Liverpool Children's Inquiry, chaired by Michael Redfern QC.

Children's heads were stored in jars – including that of an 11-year-old – eyes were taken from foetuses, hearts, brains and spinal cords were removed without consent and kept in the dank cellar of a university laboratory.

There were 2,000 containers in the cellar in Myrtle Street, Liverpool holding the remains of 850 children in September 1999. They were dirty and covered in thick black dust. Some of the labels were damp and had come off and the writing on others had faded. Some of the organs were putrefying because levels of preservative had not been kept topped up.

Every child who had a post-mortem examination at the hospital was plundered for his or her organs but most were never used for research, according to the report. Nothing was done by managers to stop the practice.

Four NHS staff, including the trust chief executive, were suspended yesterday and will face disciplinary action. The acting chairman of the trust left yesterday, as did two non-executive directors.

But the disturbing practice of raiding the dead for material for research, without considering the feelings of the living, was not confined to Alder Hey.

As Alan Milburn, the Secretary of State for Health, announced new laws on obtaining consent for post-mortem examinations, a census of hospitals around the UK showed more than 100,000 organs were held nationwide, most taken without the relatives' knowledge.

A commission is to be set up chaired by Margot Brazier, professor of law at Manchester University, to oversee the return of organs to families who want them.

Mr Milburn told the Commons that the activities of the rogue pathologist Professor Dick van Velzen went beyond disrespect for the dignity of the dead.

He treated the bodies on which he did post-mortem examinations with utter disregard – systematically stripping each one of all its organs.

Notes were found that read "Inflated monster. Humpty Dumpty" on a nine-week-old foetus and "Neck deeply lacerated. Pull it to pieces sometime and reject" on a seven-week-old foetus.

He said Professor van Velzen, chairman of foetal and infant pathology, "lied to other doctors. He lied to hospital managers. He stole medical records. He falsified statistics and reports, and he encouraged other staff to do the same."

Mr Milburn added: "It is hard to imagine the trauma and anguish which each Alder Hey parent faced when many, many years later they discovered that their child's body had not been buried intact as they believed but had been stripped of their entire internal organs, leaving the body as a shell. This happened not to one set of parents in Liverpool but to several hundred."

Professor van Velzen, the Dutch-born pathologist who worked at Alder Hey from 1988 to 1995 in charge of postmortem examinations but is now back in Holland, has been summoned before the General Medical Council later this week.

The inquiry report has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions and Merseyside Police. The report says he must never be allowed to practise again in this country.

The report described what happened at Alder Hey as "exceptional", but taking and keeping organs has been practised nationwide for decades with scant regard for the law.

A second report by the Government's chief medical officer, Professor Liam Donaldson, including a census of pathology services, found more than 54,000 organs were held in laboratories and medical museums in 210 NHS trusts and medical schools taken since 1970. A similar number were stored in medical museums and archives taken before 1970.

Most were removed and retained without consent and hospitals yesterday began issuing apologies for past poor practice and were setting up telephone helplines for concerned relatives. Scores more hospitals could be asked to return hearts and other organs taken over the past three decades.

Mr Milburn said all hospitals would be required to provide support to families at the time of bereavement and a review would be established of the coroners system. The Human Tissue Act 1961 is to be amended to clarify that informedconsent must be given for the retention of organs.

In New Zealand, Auckland Healthcare has said surgeons would never take organs without consent as individuals have a legal right to decide what happens to their body parts and parents or guardians have a right to decide for children.

But an Auckland University ethics expert, Dr Martin Wilkinson, told the Herald in October that he believed parents should be overridden if they refused to allow body parts from their dead children to be used to save lives.

- HERALD CORRESPONDENT