Alder Hey parents offered £5,000 each in compensation
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Parents involved in the Alder Hey scandal have been offered £5m in a compensation package, which will include public memorials to children whose organs were removed without consent.
The potential deal includes a public apology by a senior official from both the Merseyside hospital and the University of Liverpool.
A plaque would be put up at the hospital as part of the measures, saying: "This plaque is dedicated to the memory of children and pre-viable babies who died and from whom organs were wrongly retained in former times. This dedication acknowledges the role of parents in bringing about appropriate change."
The financial part of the deal, equivalent to about £5,000 each for more than 1,000 parents, is understood to be relatively low to ensure that the families' other requests, particularly the apologies, were met. Early indications were that the terms of the mediation, started to avoid lengthy litigation, would be agreed by the "substantial majority" of parents needed to end the action. But one relative told the Daily Post newspaper that the offer was a "complete insult".
If the settlement was agreed by a "substantial majority" of parents, it would be the first time that civil action brought by a group against the health service had been settled through mediation. Civil claims are settled only through financial payouts, yet the use of professional mediators allows other forms of redress to be included.
Other parts of the deal include individual letters of apology, a memorial fund and a contribution from the university to a charity. A hardship fund would be established to help those particularly badly affected by the scandal.
The families are expected to make their decision later this month. The mediation started at the end of September between lawyers for parents, the hospital and the University of Liverpool.
The university employed the Dutch pathologist Dick van Velzen as a researcher. He stockpiled children's body parts over seven years until 1995, without the knowledge of parents. Many families held second or even third funerals when body parts were found in a laboratory, years after the loss of their babies.
The 600-page official report into the scandal, published in January, described Professor van Velzen as a maverick.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments