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NY Times
World Briefing | Europe: Britain: Court Case On Missing Organs
By PATRICK E. TYLER (NYT)
Published: January 27, 2004
A civil trial involving 2,140 families began with the High Court hearing details about
how organs were removed from dead relatives, mostly children, over more than a
decade without the consent of family members. They are seeking compensation from
130 hospitals around the country. An attorney for the families, Richard Lissak, told the
court that the ''practice was objectionable on three levels -- morally, ethically and
legally.'' In the cases presented yesterday, the bodies of two infants who died days
after being born were returned to their parents after major organs, including their
brains, had been removed. A lawyer for the National Health Service defended the
medical professionals, saying, ''These are the self-same people who cared for these
children'' and earned the gratitude of parents. ''Why should their devoted
professionalism suddenly cease?'' Patrick E. Tyler (NYT)
Dead man had missing organs and rope around neck
March 3 2003
Police in Philadelphia, responding to a report of a dead body, turned the victim over
and found his heart, a lung and other organs had been cut out.
"Either ... there's a really sick person out there who wants to keep somebody's internal
organs, or is there a market for this? Or are they trying to send a message?" homicide
Captain Charles Bloom said after the discovery at the weekend.
The victim also had a rope around his neck, police said.
A man searching for scrap metal inside an abandoned North Philadelphia house found
the body lying face down and called police.
Detectives found the victim's chest had been cut open from the neck to his stomach
and that his chest cavity was hollowed out.
"This wasn't done by animals," said Captain Bloom.
Police described the victim as a black male, possibly in his 30s, who had been dead for
about 24 to 48 hours. His identity was unknown.
Police were also considering the possibility that someone abused the body after the
man died of natural causes or a drug overdose, Captain Bloom said. An autopsy has
been scheduled.
AP
Inquiries find other missing organs
OneNews New Zealand
Mar 6, 2002
Green Lane hospital has had to tell some relatives that it not only collected their dead
child's heart without permission but in a two cases other organs as well.
A spokesperson for the hospital says there are about 1,350 stored hearts and in some
cases lungs, livers, spleen, and kidneys.
The clinical director of paediatric cardiac surgery says Dr Kirsten Finucane says about
100 enquiries so far have turned up a positive finding of a heart and of those two
included a heart, lungs, liver, spleen and kidneys.
Family demand action on man's missing organs
Redditch Advertiser Worcestershire
1 December 2000
THE family of a Stratford man who died while swimming on holiday has demanded to
know why his body was sent back to the UK missing vital organs.
The five daughters and wife of Anthony Bicknell, said this week they had been very
unhappy with the Greek authorities for the way they had handled the death and feared
his organs could have been unscrupulously removed for research or for sale on the
black market.
Warwickshire coroner Michael Coker told the family there was little he could do, but
promised to write to the Foreign Office to order another probe into the death of the
55-year-old from Holly Walk.
At an inquest into the Welcombe Hotel handyman's death on Friday, Vickie Bicknell
said she saw her husband of 18 months swim out to see and disappear under the
surface suddenly "as if he had been pulled down".
She said she was taken away while resuscitation attempts were being made and was
told her husband had died at the scene.
However, oldest daughter Dawn, aged 36, said the family had had no proof he had
died there and no witness reports had been received from people on the beach.
"We believe you should be doing more to discover why my father was treated like this
and we especially want to discover why my father's body was plundered," she said.
Mr Coker adjourned the inquest until further information was received from the Greek
authorities.
World Briefing | Europe: Britain: Court Case On Missing Organs
By PATRICK E. TYLER (NYT)
Published: January 27, 2004
A civil trial involving 2,140 families began with the High Court hearing details about
how organs were removed from dead relatives, mostly children, over more than a
decade without the consent of family members. They are seeking compensation from
130 hospitals around the country. An attorney for the families, Richard Lissak, told the
court that the ''practice was objectionable on three levels -- morally, ethically and
legally.'' In the cases presented yesterday, the bodies of two infants who died days
after being born were returned to their parents after major organs, including their
brains, had been removed. A lawyer for the National Health Service defended the
medical professionals, saying, ''These are the self-same people who cared for these
children'' and earned the gratitude of parents. ''Why should their devoted
professionalism suddenly cease?'' Patrick E. Tyler (NYT)
Dead man had missing organs and rope around neck
March 3 2003
Police in Philadelphia, responding to a report of a dead body, turned the victim over
and found his heart, a lung and other organs had been cut out.
"Either ... there's a really sick person out there who wants to keep somebody's internal
organs, or is there a market for this? Or are they trying to send a message?" homicide
Captain Charles Bloom said after the discovery at the weekend.
The victim also had a rope around his neck, police said.
A man searching for scrap metal inside an abandoned North Philadelphia house found
the body lying face down and called police.
Detectives found the victim's chest had been cut open from the neck to his stomach
and that his chest cavity was hollowed out.
"This wasn't done by animals," said Captain Bloom.
Police described the victim as a black male, possibly in his 30s, who had been dead for
about 24 to 48 hours. His identity was unknown.
Police were also considering the possibility that someone abused the body after the
man died of natural causes or a drug overdose, Captain Bloom said. An autopsy has
been scheduled.
AP
Inquiries find other missing organs
OneNews New Zealand
Mar 6, 2002
Green Lane hospital has had to tell some relatives that it not only collected their dead
child's heart without permission but in a two cases other organs as well.
A spokesperson for the hospital says there are about 1,350 stored hearts and in some
cases lungs, livers, spleen, and kidneys.
The clinical director of paediatric cardiac surgery says Dr Kirsten Finucane says about
100 enquiries so far have turned up a positive finding of a heart and of those two
included a heart, lungs, liver, spleen and kidneys.
Family demand action on man's missing organs
Redditch Advertiser Worcestershire
1 December 2000
THE family of a Stratford man who died while swimming on holiday has demanded to
know why his body was sent back to the UK missing vital organs.
The five daughters and wife of Anthony Bicknell, said this week they had been very
unhappy with the Greek authorities for the way they had handled the death and feared
his organs could have been unscrupulously removed for research or for sale on the
black market.
Warwickshire coroner Michael Coker told the family there was little he could do, but
promised to write to the Foreign Office to order another probe into the death of the
55-year-old from Holly Walk.
At an inquest into the Welcombe Hotel handyman's death on Friday, Vickie Bicknell
said she saw her husband of 18 months swim out to see and disappear under the
surface suddenly "as if he had been pulled down".
She said she was taken away while resuscitation attempts were being made and was
told her husband had died at the scene.
However, oldest daughter Dawn, aged 36, said the family had had no proof he had
died there and no witness reports had been received from people on the beach.
"We believe you should be doing more to discover why my father was treated like this
and we especially want to discover why my father's body was plundered," she said.
Mr Coker adjourned the inquest until further information was received from the Greek
authorities.