A heartbroken mother had to have a second burial for her baby son nearly six years after he died because organs were taken without her permission
Little baby Tadhg was stillborn in June, 2016 at almost 38 weeks gestation.
But his family had no idea his organs had been removed and had been kept at the morgue at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda.
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A year and five months after burying Tadhg the mother was contacted by the morgue asking her if she wanted her baby’s brain and left lung.
But she did not get the organs back until March last year - five years and nine months after his funeral.
The family from the Cavan-Monaghan area reopened the grave to bury the rest of their son.
The tragic case was revealed by the family’s local TD Pauline Tully of Sinn Fein in the Dail.
She said: “Can you imagine how difficult it is to lose a baby in the first place? Then the hurt was revisited on them all over again when they were confronted with the fact that part of their baby son was removed and retained.
"I acknowledge that it is common practice to remove organs during a post mortem and to retain these organs for further tests, but surely families should be informed if this is the case.
"This family still does not know why their their baby son’s organs were retained. The sad part is that they are not the only family that this has happened to and this was not mentioned in the post mortem report”.
Deputy Tully has demanded that new post mortem rules contained in the Human Tissue Bill published last week will stop the practice of families not being informed of organ removal from ever happening again.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said the principle of consent is enshrined in the Bill.
He stated: "Organ donation is a precious gift and often the most precious of gifts. It saves lives. Our aim is to help increase the donor pool in Ireland while always respecting the wishes of individuals and their families."
The new legislation is due to become law later in the year and will mean the organs of anybody in the country who dies can be used for donation unless you sign up to an opt- out register.
It should help radically reduce the number of patients waiting for life saving transplants.
There are currently 570 men, woman and children waiting for heart, lung, and liver transplants
Last year 250 transplant were carried out in the Republic from 119 donors.
In 2021 thirty one people sadly died while waiting for organ transplants.
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