http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/323/7324/1270
BMJ 2001;323:1270 ( 1 December )
News roundup
Parents should have absolute rights over child’s body after death, report
says
Bryan Christie Edinburgh
New laws that would give absolute rights to parents to decide what should
happen to a child’s body after death are needed in the United Kingdom, a
Scottish independent inquiry into organ removal has recommended.
The inquiry, which covered the removal of organs from adults as well as
children, was commissioned in the wake of the Alder Hey affair, in which organs
were removed from thousands of children without their parents’ consent.
The recommendations of the Scottish inquiry go further than what has already
been proposed in England and involve the repeal of the 1961 Human Tissue Act
and its replacement with new legislation. Promises have been made in England to
reform but not to repeal the 1961 act (BMJ 2001;322:255).
The new legislation would mean that organs could be removed only with the
authorisation of parents. It would have the effect of transferring the legal
control of dead children from hospitals to parents. The Scottish inquiry also
wants to clarify the rights of adults to make a legally binding disposition of
his or her body after death and not to have that decision over-ruled by
relatives.
Other recommendations include a stronger monitoring and policing role for
research ethics committees and the provision of new information leaflets for
families on all of the issues relating to hospital postmortem examinations.
The inquiry was led by Sheila McLean, professor of law and ethics in
medicine at Glasgow University. She said that there needed to be a radical
shift away from "absence of objection" to hospital postmortem
activity and organ removal towards "active" authorisation.
Professor McLean added: "The law as it stands is vague and uncertain.
It is confusing for relatives but also for the doctors who work in these
fields. Our proposals are the most radical to have been set out anywhere in the
UK on this sensitive issue. Although we have always firmly believed that the
best way for legislation to progress is on a UK basis, the Scottish Executive
will need to consider carefully how it takes this forward—if necessary on a
Scotland only basis.
The inquiry found that nearly 6000 organs and tissue samples are stored in
Scottish hospitals. Parents’ groups who took an active part in the inquiry have
agreed that limited medical research should be allowed on retained organs. This
research can begin six months after the start of the five year period during which
parents can reclaim their child’s organs.
The need for stronger legislation has been accepted by the Scottish health
minister, Susan Deacon, and she said she will be consulting with colleagues
across the United Kingdom on how legislative change can best be achieved.
The report of the Review Group on Organ
Retention at Post-Mortem is available at www.show.scot.nhs.uk/scotorgrev
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Other related articles in
BMJ:
NEWS
Alder Hey report condemns doctors, management, and coroner.
Mark Hunter
BMJ 2001 322: 255.
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