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'Don't let organs scare kill my child'
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THE mother of a small girl awaiting a heart transplant has expressed her fear that a mounting organ donor crisis will cost the child her life.
Writing in The Times today, Claude Bride says she believes public concern over the Alder Hey scandal has undermined her daughter's chances of receiving a new heart. Doctors at the Royal Brompton Hospital in West London say that one-year-old Margaux Bride -- who could undergo the fifteenth operation in her short life this week--will die within weeks if a suitable donor is not found.
“The organ scandal at Alder Hey has seriously affected perceptions about organ donation,”Mrs Bride writes. “There hasn't been one transplant at the Royal Brompton during the past ten days; as the clock ticks for Margaux, I worry that this scandal is decreasing her chances of finding a donor in time.”
Two reports published last week detailed the way that a pathologist at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool stripped organs from children's bodies without parental consent, and disclosed that 100,300 organs, foetuses and body parts were being stored at hospitals around the country.
Fears that the scandal will discourage parents from offering organs when their children die were expressed at the weekend by Sir Magdi Yacoub, the eminent transplant surgeon who will operate on Margaux if a donor is found. He said: “A large number of patients will almost certainly die if this trend continues.”
Alan Milburn, the Health Secretary, has called a meeting of transplant experts to allay fears of a donor crisis. One idea to be considered is to issue donor cards with payslips.
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