Rotunda attempts to contact parents over organ retention

ONE of the country’s top maternity hospitals is trying to contact the parents of 138 dead children whose organs were kept without their knowledge between 2000 and 2007.

An audit published by the Health Service Executive (HSE) has revealed that the Rotunda Hospital holds more than half of the 2,274 organs kept since 2000.

Just 10 years ago grieving parents discovered their children’s organs were retained without their knowledge or consent and began campaigning for a state inquiry.

Master of the Rotunda Dr Sam Coulter-Smith apologised for the hospital’s actions and said organ retention now only happened in exceptional cases. “I recognised that what happened in some cases prior to 2008 was unacceptable, particularly during a traumatic and sad period for bereaved parents. We are sincerely sorry for any hurt caused and for the time taken to deal with the issues that have arisen.”

A separate investigation into postmortem practices at the hospital found weakness in the consent policy as well as differences between the terms of the consent given by families and postmortems carried out. It said there were delays in carrying out examination and delays in implementing family instruction for respectful burial of organs or tissues.

The report said the issues at the hospital arose from individual professional practice, poor postmortem systems, weak management and governance oversight.

Dr Coulter-Smith said they had rectified their processes, put new policies and procedures in place and tools to monitor them.

The HSE is to carry out biannual independent reviews of postmortem practices at the hospital to ensure improvements remained effective.

The independent audit of the country’s hospitals was recommended in the 2006 Madden report and was led by Michaela Willis, a former member of the Human Tissue Authority in Britain.

The audit identified issues at the Rotunda that required a separate investigation and it was undertaken for the HSE by a team led by Ian Carter, chief executive of St James’s Hospital.

Parents for Justice spokeswoman Charlotte Yeates said they were very disappointed that the Rotunda had been singled out after a number of issues were identified in the main audit.