How many organs have been harvested?
The Donaldson report found that 105,000 organs are retained at hospitals and medical schools across England. When did the scandal break? The scandal first broke in 1999 when it emerged that the hearts and other organs of 170 children who died at Bristol Royal Infirmary had been kept without their consent. The scandal at Alder Hey emerged soon after. It became clear that organ harvesting at the hospital went back decades. Have any other practices been criticised? Last week it emerged that the Birmingham and Liverpool hospitals had also given thymus glands, removed during heart surgery from live children, to a pharmaceutical company for research in return for financial donations. Alder Hey also stored 1,500 foetuses that were miscarried, stillborn or aborted without consent. Why are organs removed? Postmortems are performed when there is doubt about the cause of death, which is especially important in young children. Organs and other tissues are removed and examined during autopsies. How
