Two Dublin maternity hospitals have admitted retaining organ tissue from babies without parental knowledge. The Rotunda Hospital said tissue removed in post mortem examinations was kept for a number of years. The hospital has said it accepts in retrospect that permission should have been sought. This follows the news that Holles Street hospital retained most of the internal organs from dead babies without parental consent. The Coombe Hospital in Dublin has said it retained no whole organs. The hospital said biopsies, or small pieces of tissue, were taken from organs for further study.
The country's top maternity hospitals are the focus of attention in this latest development in the organ retention controversy. At lunchtime today, the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin confirmed that it too retained organ tissue after post mortems on babies who died in the hospital. In a statement, the master Peter McKenna said post mortem practice normally involves the retention of some internal organ parts and or tissue for further examination. Mr McKenna said that between 1982 and 1999, tissue was retained for a number of years to be re-examined later. He said no intact organ was retained in its entirety. This was done without parental permission.
Holles Street Hospital however retained most of the internal organs removed from babies during post mortems, without parental knowledge. Most of the organs retained in the past ten years are still in storage. This was a far more extensive practice than that carried out in Crumlin Children's Hospital, where the controversy over post mortem practices began.
Yesterday's Liveline radio programme revealed that a Dublin couple whose newborn baby had died ten years ago were told by the Holles Street maternity hospital last Friday that five of the baby's internal organs had been removed. The family is arranging for the return of the organs to be buried with their baby's remains. The family had given permission for a post mortem on their baby but were not told this meant taking out most of the internal organs. The consultant histo-pathologist at Holles Street, Dr Eoghan Mooney, said babies' organs were very small, and were very difficult to separate particularly in premature births. He said analysis was required to investigate congenital abnormalities, particularly if there was a risk of recurrence. This was in line with best international practice. He confirmed that Holles Street, like many other hospitals at the time, removed pituitary glands for drug companies to manufacture human growth hormone.
Fionnuala O'Reilly, of the Parents for Justice Group, said that the extensiveness of Holles Street Hospital's post mortems was disturbing. It underlined the need for the forthcoming inquiry to be placed on a full statutory footing. She called on the Minister for Health to include all hospitals with maternity units in the scope of the inquiry. It is understood that the Department of Health is favouring a non-statutory inquiry. This would not compel witnesses to attend. Holles Street is dealing with parents' queries individually. However, the Rotunda has issued a helpline number with effect from tomorrow - 01 817 1761.
