Government 'broke pledge' on organs

Marie Woolf
Monday 24 February 2003 01:00 GMT
Comments

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.

The Government "misled the public" when it pledged to act against the harvesting of organs from babies in response to the Alder Hey scandal, the Tories said yesterday.

Two years after a report revealed that more than 40,000 organs were being kept at British hospitals, the Government has still not changed the law to prevent doctors removing children's organs without parents' consent.

The Department of Health has admitted that implementing some of the recommendations in a report by the Chief Medical Officer into the affair has proved "difficult". Among these are penalties for doctors and coroners who remove children's organs without permission.

Chris Grayling, a Tory health spokesman, said: "For the Government not to have kept their promises is astonishing. It makes matters worse if you raise expectations of those who have been affected by such a tragic situation. Removing children's organs should never happen without consent."

The Government said it was still considering how to introduce legal protection for parents of children who die.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in