“HOSPITALS QUIETLY KEPT CHILDREN’S ORGANS” was one of the milder newspaper headings at the time. Given the events that have unfolded in Britain’s National Health Service in recent years, few doctors are now likely to risk the wrath of parents and the tabloid press by stockpiling body parts for medical research or teaching doctors, in particular pathologists (New Scientist, 2 February, p 14). Angry press reports and comments heralded the revelation that such practices were the norm. The ensuing furore led to the Royal Liverpool Children’s Inquiry, better known as the Alder Hey Inquiry. Now though I hear, anecdotally…
Westminster diary
By Tam Dalyell
8 June 2002
