How would you feel if you were at the funeral of your Son, Daughter, Brother or Sister? Mortified I would imagine. But what if you were later to discover that they had been buried with some of their vital organs missing, sat in jars, on a shelf in your local hospital. You didn’t know or suspect a thing about it; the surgeons had removed them with no permission off you what so ever.
But what if you were
still to discover that the Department of Health knew all the details of all the
details of all the medical centres in England, which were holding over 500
organs, body parts and the corpses of still-born babies and foetuses, and what
if you were one of the thousands of relatives who were waiting to hear from the
hospitals across the country whether your children’s organs were among those
who were illegally stripped of their organs without consent.
Hospitals such as
London’s Great Ormand street hospital gave parents advice to get into contact
with senior staff to discuss their concerns and begin the necessary inquiries.
Southampton’s general
hospital, one of Britains major teaching and research centres, retained 1,300
Brains and 200 Hearts for research into diseases such as CJD and Alzheimer’s.
But what if you were
still to discover that the Department of Health decided to temporarily hold on
to the return of body parts to families.
Some families had
already gone through three or more funerals.
The thought of going
through three or more funerals of you child, brother or sister is devastating
for me, but put yourself in the families’ situation. Horrific.
Slowly and surely the
return of body parts is continuing. This story is devastating, I know. To hear
that maybe a year or two after your child’s death that your child had been
buried with some of its vital organs must be heart wrenching. The cheek,
self-centres and heartless actions of a minority caused so much Heartache,
Distrust and traumatic pain to a majority.
Put
yourself in the families or surgeons situation, How would you feel?
Written by Andrea Smith.