Nursery World - 'Life books' for dead children

Hospitals are to be prevented by changes in the law from removing tissue and organs from the bodies of dead children without their parents' consent. The change was one of 17 recommendations made by chief medical officer Professor Liam Donaldson in his report, The removal, retention and use of human organs and tissue from post-mortem examination, which was published last week alongside the report of the inquiry into Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool. He also recommended that any tissue and organs donated for teaching purposes from now on should be accompanied by a 'life book' about the child or adult who has died, to show to medical students, and that bereavement support be made available to all families in all NHS Trusts.

The change was one of 17 recommendations made by chief medical officer Professor Liam Donaldson in his report, The removal, retention and use of human organs and tissue from post-mortem examination, which was published last week alongside the report of the inquiry into Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool. He also recommended that any tissue and organs donated for teaching purposes from now on should be accompanied by a 'life book' about the child or adult who has died, to show to medical students, and that bereavement support be made available to all families in all NHS Trusts.

The Human Tissue Act 1961 will be amended to clarify that consent must be sought from the parents or guardians of children for keeping tissue or organs from post-mortems of children beyond the time necessary to establish the cause of death. Professor Donaldson said this move 'recognises the immense distress that such retentions without the parents' knowledge and consent have caused'.

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