The country's leading children's hospital, Our Lady's in Crumlin, has confirmed that it removes thymus glands from living children during open-heart surgery as standard practice. The hospital's chief executive, Paul Kavanagh, told RTE News that in general, the glands are given to the hospital's research centre.
To his knowledge, he said, none have been given to pharmaceutical companies. This follows the news that the British hospital at the centre of the organs retention controversy, Alder Hey in Liverpool, said it gave similar organs from living children to pharmaceutical companies in return for financial donations.
In a separate development, a hospital in the North of England, at the centre of an organ selling scandal has admitted selling glands from children who are still alive, for research. The Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool admitted it gave the samples of thymus glands from children who had undergone heart operations, to a pharmaceutical company in return for cash. Parents groups have voiced their anger, and a government minister has described the disclosure as horrifying.
