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'.
The Act currently states, 'The person lawfully in possession of the body of a deceased person may authorise the removal of any part from the body for use for (medical) purposes.' But Professor Donaldson pointed out the ambiguity of its wording. 'Who is the person lawfully in possession of the body - the relatives of the deceased? Or the hospital authorities? The concept is a lack of objection rather than consent,' he said.
The Child Bereavement Trust welcomed the report. Director Jenni Thomas said, 'It is important that donors' "life books" are made, because so often babies and children are not seen as being important after they have died, but they are to their parents. Bereavement counselling is abso-lutely crucial.Traditionally the NHS hasn't seen it as a priority.'
A Department of Health spokesman said, 'We must balance the needs of medical research with informed consent. "Life books" will ensure medical staff will not become so desensitised to the needs of parents - it's not just an issue of "sign here and leave the rest to us".
'Bereavement counselling is handled on a Trust by Trust basis. We will be sending out guidance to all NHS Trusts on what their role should be to ensure that everybody provides the same service and there are no regional or local variations. We want to make sure Trusts are all providing it to the same standard so that we can treat parents with respect, understanding and sensitivity.'
