Timeline

Video of the Alder Hey Organ Scandal timeline:


















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written timeline:


April 1988 – Dick Van Velzen, a Dutch pathologist, is appointed the chair of fetal and infant pathology at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, United Kingdom.

September 1988 – Dick van Velzen assumes his position as chair at Alder Hey.

1988-1995 - organs are retained and removed without consent, all across Britain and the Western world.

1992 – The 11-month-old Samantha Rickard dies during open-heart surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI). Her heart is retained by the BRI without the family’s consent.

Dec 1994 – Dick van Velzen is restricted to fetal and perinatal work and so he decides to take an unauthorized leave from Alder Hey.

Feb 1995 - Dick van Velzen is ordered to stop undertaking research projects without proper ethical approval

Dec 1995 - Dick van Velzen leaves Alder Hey and starts working at Izaak Walton Killam Hospital in Nova Scotia, Canada.

1996 – Samantha Rickard’s mother, Helen Rickard, requests her daughter’s medical records from the Bristol Royal Infirmary. In doing so, she finds a letter outlining the post mortem performed on Samantha, and stating that Samantha’s heart had been retained.

1997 - Samantha’s heart is returned to her family. Helen Rickard works to set up a support group and telephone help line for other families who also have discovered the retention of their children’s organs.

1998 – van Velzen is dismissed from the Izaak Walton Killam hospital in Canada for ‘incompetence’.

Feb 1999 – The group set up by Samantha Rickard, now known as the Bristol Heart Children Action Group, holds a press conference in which they inform the public about the issue of retained organs

1999 - a public inquiry into paediatric cardiac surgery at Bristol begins and is chaired by Ian Kennedy.

Sept 1999 – Professor Robert Anderson, president elect of the British Cardiac association, gave evidence of organ collections at Alder Hey and informed the Bristol public enquiry that collections of organs also existed in numerous other hospitals across the country.

Oct 6 1999 – It emerges that many other organs removed by van Velzen at Alder Hey had also been stored in a laboratory that belonged to the University of Liverpool.

Dec 1999- In response to this, and as an increasing number of hospitals around Britain are found to be retaining organs, a nationwide investigation into the retention of organs is announced. An independent enquiry is organised, and It this investigation which leads to the Redfern report.

21 December 1999 – Alder Hey releases an internal report in which it describes the organ retention practices as ‘unacceptable,’ and calls on the coroner and bereaved parents for help. 

15 Jan 2000 - Alder hey defends the decision to take microscopic organ samples before returning the retained organs to families, claiming it is justified.

March 16, 2000 – The chairman of the trust running the Alder Hey, Frank Taylor, hospital admits to the accidental disposal of the organs of a ten year old boy, Stephan White, who died in 1992. He informed the parents of this accidental disposal just days before they were due to hold a second funeral for their son. In response, the Health Secretary demands Frank Taylor’s resignation.

23 March 2000 –The Chief medical Officer for England, Liam Donaldson publishes guidelines on how to deal with bereaved parents and post-mortem operations. A new Chairman, Judith Greensmith is also appointed to replace Frank Taylor, and promises a new era of openness.

May 12, 2000 - Alder Hey bosses say they have mistakenly "disposed of" the organs of Simone Robinson who died aged three. Her parents, who were initially told the hospital did not have their daughter's organs, say they are appalled. They had requested to remain anonymous but the hospital released their name without consultation.

August 15, 2000 – A new store of brain tissue is discovered, including the brain tissue of the children of 62 families who were previously given the ‘all-clear.’

September 21, 2000 – Roger Franks, one of Alder Hey's two heart, ceases performing heart operations on the children at Alder Hey. He states that this is because of the increasing public attacks on his work.

Sep 2000- in Nova Scotia, Canada, were Dick van Velzen had worked after leaving Alder Hey, a worker found a bag containing children’s body parts in a lock-up storage unit. The police in Canada issue a warrant for van Velzen’s arrest, but van Velzen insists he has done nothing wrong

Oct 2000 – The British Medical Association publish guidelines for doctors, outlining how to obtain consent for the removal of organs, but the Alder Hey families fight for these guidelines to be implemented by law.

November 13, 2000 – It is revealed that up to 400 fetuses had been stored in a laboratory in the University of Liverpool, again without the consent of the parents.

28 Nov 2000 - Alder Hey sends letters out to parents, which detail how to carry out ‘Do-It-Yourself burials’ for the returned children’s body parts.

January 11, 2001 - A summit is hosted in London by Professor Donaldson. The purpose of the summit is to produce a set of guidelines safeguarding against another situation like the Alder Hey scandal. At this summit an estimated number for the amount of organs removed emerges, when it is revealed that about 3500 children had body parts taken without consent.

26 Jan 2001 - Alder Hey admits to selling thymus glands that had been removed from living children to a French pharmaceutical company in exchange for cash.

Jan 30, 2001 -The Redfern inquiry report is published. This report, led by Michael Redfern, confirms that thousands of organs were removed from Children at Alder Hey without consent.

1 July 2001 – van Velzen is convicted of improperly storing children's organs in the Nova Scotia storage unit. He is given a 12 month probation and ordered to pay $2000 (Canadian) to charity.

Late 2001: General medical council suspend van Velzen temporarily from medical practice in the United Kingdom.

Early 2003 – the Alder Hey hospital settle the claims of the families affected for an out-of-court settlement of five million pounds.

Aug 5 2004 – the burials of the nameless body parts that had not been identified began at allergen cemetry in Liverpool.

Dec 5 2004 – The Crown Prosecution service confirms that there will be no criminal prosecution of Prof Dick Van Velzen.


Jun 20 2005 – Dick van Velzen is banned permanently by the General Medical Council from practicing medicine in the United Kingdom.

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Bibliography and Resources:

T. Marshall Stolen Hearts: Fiction and the 1990's Pathology Scandal (Nottingham: Critical, Cultural and Communications Press, 2009)
http://www.new-ventures.net/PDF/Preview/Stolen%20Hearts%20preview.pdf

"Timeline - how the Alder Hey Scandal broke,' The Liverpool echo, April 20, 2007
 http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/timeline-how-thealder-hey-scandal-3489864

"Alder Hey organ Scandal - The story so far," The Dailymail, February 1, 2001
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-18975/Alder-Hey-organs-scandal--story-far.html

"New organ scandal forces hospital chief to quit," the guardian, March 18, 2000
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/mar/17/alderhey.davidward

S. Bosely "50,000 organs secretly stored in hospitals," the guardian, January 12, 2001
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2001/jan/11/hospitals.health

"Living Children's glands given to drug firms" the guardian, January 27, 2001
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2001/jan/26/alderhey.uknews

S. Bosely "Organ horror report outcry," the guardian, January 31, 2001
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2001/jan/30/health.alderhey

"Doctor: Organ Scandal not my fault," the guardian, February 5, 2001
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2001/feb/05/health.alderhey1

J. Meikle "GMC bans Alder Hey pathologist" the guardian, February 4, 2001
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/feb/03/alderhey.jamesmeikle

D. Batty "Alder Hey pathologist struck off" the guardian, June 21, 2005
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/jun/20/health.lifeandhealth

"Organ Scandal Background," BBC news, January 21, 2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1136723.stm
"Alder Hey Hospital to stage final memorial for organ-scandal children,' The Telegraph, January 18, 2010
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7012610/Alder-Hey-Hospital-to-stage-final-memorial-for-organ-scandal-children.html

"Summary of the Report into the Alder Hey Scandal,' nzherald.co.nz, February 1, 2001

R. Jenkins, “Alder Hey doctor shuns accusers at inquiry into organ theft,” The Times UK News, June 7, 2005.

“Alder Hey organ doctor faces police investigation,” Telegraph, December 15, 2001.

The Royal Children’s inquiry Report (London: The Stationary Office, 2001), 444.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=170706