The Minister for Health and Children, Mary Harney TD today (7 November
2006) received the Report of the Working Group on Post Mortem Practice
from the Chair of the Working Group, Dr Deirdre Madden.
The Working Group was established by the Minister in May 2006 and asked
to examine legal and ethical issues relating to post mortem practice in
respect of babies who died before or during birth, minors over the age
of 12, and adults, and to adapt the recommendations in the Madden
Report into Post Mortem Practice and Procedure (2006) to these cohorts.
Along with Dr Madden, the Working Group includes representatives of
Parents for Justice and the Irish Stillbirth and Neonatal Death
Society, together with healthcare professionals from a range of
disciplines across the Health Service Executive. The secretariat for
the Group was provided by the Department of Health and Children.
The Working Group Report endorses the recommendations made in the
Madden Report, in particular the need for legislation to be introduced
as soon as possible to ensure that no post-mortem examination will be
carried out and no tissue or organ retained from a post-mortem
examination for any purpose without appropriate authorisation.
Following an authorised post-mortem examination, the Report recommends
that organs, where retained, must be appropriately stored according to
best international practice. The need for clear, comprehensive and
standard information to be given to bereaved families is also
highlighted, together with the need for appropriate education and
training for hospital staff who are responsible for end of life care or
for liaison with the bereaved. A number of new recommendations are made
in the Working Group Report which are specific to the cohorts under
review, and difficult issues are addressed, in particular with regard
to the deaths of babies during or before birth.
The Minister re-iterated her commitment to implement the
recommendations in the Madden Report and indicated that now that the
recommendations were complete her officials would prepare a memorandum
for government setting out the requirements for appropriate legislation
to give legal effect to these recommendations. The Minister also noted
that considerable progress has already been made by the Health Service
Executive in implementing the recommendations in hospitals across the
country.
The Minister had a special word of thanks for the members of the
representative groups for their collaboration on the Report "I am very
thankful to the members of the representative organisations who have
worked so diligently to produce these recommendations. I am aware of
how distressing the revelations of the past few years have been to
families who were already suffering from the loss of their loved ones,
and I commend their efforts at ensuring that no other family should
have to undergo the same ordeal" said the Minister. "I also wish to
thank Dr Madden for her endeavours in chairing the Working Group so
effectively and producing the Report in such a timely manner" added the
Minister.
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