The witnesses from the Mental Welfare Commission have not yet arrived and we have not been told why. With members' agreement, we will now take agenda item 4—petitions PE283, PE370 and PE406. We will return to item 3 when the witnesses arrive. Is that agreeable?
Official Report · Committee
Petitions
Organ Retention (PE283 and PE370) Post-mortem Organ Removal (PE406)
Speakers
Choose an MSP to read only their contributions- Margaret Jamieson Lab 5
- Mary Scanlon Con 2
- John McAllion Lab 1
The record
10 contributionsMembers indicated agreement.
Members have received copies of Sheila McLean's report on organ transplantation and retention and copies of the Executive's letter, which is dated 23 November. The Executive is consulting us and organisations on several issues and the deadline for responses is 31 March 2002.Members received the report and the letter only last week. I have certainly had difficulty in finding sufficient time to examine the report in detail. The document is pretty heavy and we will need to revisit it individually. Do members have views on the matter?
I note that the Scottish Organisation Relating to the Retention of Organs was very complimentary about the report. As the deputy convener said, it takes some time to digest. The consultation must be responded to by 31 March 2002. We cannot complain about the length of the consultation, which is excellent too. Lydia Reid was not quite as happy as SORRO and I hope that she will use the consultation to state her concerns.We should note the consultation and the excellent report by Sheila McLean. SORRO says that it is perfectly satisfied and does not seem to be calling for the public inquiry for which its original petition asked. I suggest we note no change to our position and await the end of the consultation process.
I would like to clarify one point about petition PE406, which is from Margaret Doig. She read the Official Report of the meeting at which the Public Petitions Committee dealt with her petition and told us that the committee had not quite understood the point that she wanted to make. Her point concerns the removal of organs from deceased people who have no relatives. She wants clarification on the role of executors and on whether executors would be consulted. Many references are made to consulting relatives and next of kin, but no references are made to consulting executors of wills, yet they might know the deceased's views.
We could pass that comment to the Executive as part of the consultation.
I agree that that comment should be passed on as part of the consultation. Lydia Reid and SORRO asked for a full public inquiry. The report is extensive. If they feel that something is missing from the report, I hope that they will take advantage of the process to address that between now and March 2002. The same goes for Margaret Doig.
Do members agree with Mary Scanlon's proposal to await the end of the consultation?
Members indicated agreement.
I have two options for committee members. We have two agenda items to take in private. If we considered them now, they might last until 11:15. Otherwise, we could adjourn again. The decision is in the committee's hands. Do members want to go into private session? Interruption.I retract that proposal, as the witnesses have arrived. We will give them a few moments to settle.
In this meeting
Everything on 5 Dec 2001 →- Scottish Parliament Health and Community Care Committee Wednesday 5 December 2001 (Morning) Committee business · 1
- Items in Private Procedure · 2
- Community Care and Health (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2 Bill debate · 3
- Scottish Public Sector Ombudsman Bill: Stage 1 Bill debate · 94
- Petitions Petitions · 10
- Scottish Public Sector Ombudsman Bill: Stage 1 Bill debate · 93
The type of each item (debate, statement, questions, members’ business and so on) and the times shown are worked out by this site from headings, the chair’s opening words and the Official Report’s running timestamps. They are not the Parliament’s own classification. Text: the Scottish Parliament Official Report.