THE horror of the Alder Hey scandal reverberates around Britain. While the specifics of this case concern one rogue pathologist working in one hospital in Liverpool, there are wider implications for the National Health Service.

Professor Dick van Velzen, the Dutch pathologist who worked at Alder Hey, was yesterday damned in the strongest possible terms in a report into the scandal of misused and discarded children's organs.

The details were truly sickening, as children's bodies in the care of the hospital were systematically stripped of their organs - from eyes and brains to hearts, and more besides. The retention of such organs was both unethical and illegal, the acts of a man working to his own seemingly perverse schedule, apparently without proper monitoring from the hospital authorities.

Even where permission was obtained from parents, few would have understood what they were agreeing to, and none would have sanctioned the removal of organs to be stored for years for no apparent reason.

The Alder Hey scandal says much about our complicated attitude towards death and illustrates the way in which doctors can become detached from the emotional responses of ordinary, vulnerable people.

While most people will have been sickened by the findings of this report, two out of three people questioned by a British survey said they would be willing to donate their organs for medical research. There exists a gap between the shocking disrespect that was shown towards grieving relatives in Liverpool, and the readiness of most people to support medical research.

Doctors have often acted in what they saw as the best interests of relatives, shielding them from the gruesome facts of pathology. Yet the medical profession has to understand that honesty and respect form a vital bridge between doctor and patient.

As we move on from Alder Hey, it is important not to encourage an anti-doctor culture. Doctors need to regain the trust of the public and the medical establishment must stress how many lives are dependent on donated organs and medical research.

Updated: 14:36 Wednesday, January 31, 2001