A YORK mum whose baby's organs were retained without permission ten years ago is still waiting for compensation - because lawyers are haggling over money.

Fiona Chilton's premature daughter Emma's brain was removed during a post mortem at York Hospital in 1994.

The Clifton woman is one of more than 2,000 families throughout England - all members of the Nationwide Organ Retention Group - who are seeking compensation after their babies or children were stripped of their organs in 150 NHS hospitals.

Clarke Willmott, the group's Bristol-based solicitors, currently holds a £3.3 million settlement from the National Health Service Litigation Authority (NHSLA), which is acting on behalf of the health authorities involved.

But the solicitors have not distributed the settlement among the families because of negotiations over their costs.

Papers given to Fiona by her solicitors state that the NHSLA is taking an "aggressive stance" with regards to the costs.

However, Steve Walker, chief executive of the NHSLA, claimed the costs that the solicitors were asking for was disproportionate to the claim. He said the NHSLA had offered a seven-figure sum for costs, but was being asked for a further seven-figure sum.

Now Fiona, 30, says she is so angry about the delays, and the fact that she has never received an official apology from hospital chiefs, that she has breached a confidentiality agreement to make the delays public.

She said: "It's not even about money, it's about my baby. "I'm determined to keep pushing at it, but there's no one to push, the hospital won't even speak to me."

Fiona, who only discovered in 2001 that Emma's brain had been removed, said the experience had ruined her memories of Emma, and an apology was more important than damages.

She said: "It still hurts to lose my baby, but I can cope with it. The memories are what you cling on to and I don't want to remember it like this."

A spokeswoman for Clarke Willmott said the firm was unable to comment because of the confidentiality agreement. York health chiefs referred the Evening Press to the NHSLA.

Mr Walker said Clarke Willmott were saying that because the NHSLA was not paying everything they wanted, and they were not prepared to reduce their costs or waive anything, they might have to ask their clients to contribute to the balance.

"Essentially, the only way it will be resolved is if we pay a huge amount of costs to them and we are saying we can't do that because we don't think it's justified," he said.

He added that each family should have received a written apology from their local trust chief executive, but if that had not happened in this case, he would ensure that it was done.

Fiona has three other children.

Updated: 09:24 Monday, January 03, 2005