Effect of media portrayals of removal of children's tissue on UK tumour bank
- 11 August 2005
- Vol. 331 (7513) , 401-403
- https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.331.7513.401
Abstract
The consequences of controversies surrounding organs removed and retained from children after postmortem examination in the United Kingdom1 2 have been felt in diverse areas. The most obvious of these is pathology. Morale and recruitment of pathologists have been adversely affected,3 4 and rates of autopsy have fallen from already declining rates.4 Beyond pathology, levels of organ donation for therapeutic purposes such as transplantation have also fallen.5-7 Such effects may occur because, fuelled by mass media reporting, the public does not readily distinguish between organ retention and other uses of human tissues.8 Might there be links between media reporting and donation of tissues from children for ethically approved scientific research?Keywords
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