I WRITE to protest at the banner headline 'Ten years of agony' and much of the report and editorial which accompanies it (Evening Press, January 3).

To lose a child is agony for anyone and the young woman in this case has my sympathy.

However, to refer to a delay in getting an apology and financial compensation as 'ten years of agony' is nonsense, particularly when the fact of the removal of her baby's brain became known only in 2001.

Of course, arguments about legal costs are distasteful in such cases but, for many people, so is the idea of financial compensation.

There should have been an immediate apology. The relevant authority has no excuse for not offering one but, seen in the context of the agony suffered by thousands of people as a result of the recent tsunami, your presentation of this case is a gross distortion of its true nature.

You report the young woman is not much concerned with the financial aspect of this matter. Perhaps the most honourable outcome would be for all the parties, including lawyers, to contribute their share to the relief of those now suffering true agony.

PE Smith,

The Old Cottage,

York Street,

Dunnington, York.

Updated: 11:44 Thursday, January 06, 2005