Criticism of The National Health Service - Scandals

Scandals

Several high-profile medical scandals have occurred within the NHS over the years such as the Alder Hey organs scandal and the Bristol heart scandal. At Alder Hey, there was the unauthorised removal, retention, and disposal of human tissue, including children’s organs, between 1988 and 1995. The official report into the incident, the Redfern Report, revealed that Dick van Velzen, the Chair of Fetal and Infant Pathology at Alder Hey had ordered the "unethical and illegal stripping of every organ from every child who had had a postmortem." In response, it has been argued that the scandal brought the issue of organ and tissue donation into the public domain, and highlighted the benefits to medical research that result.