Dr Kirsten Finucane says she can understand parents being upset.

The hospital has what it calls a heart library, which stores over
1300 hearts, mainly from children with congenital heart disease.

Green Lane reviewed its heart library last year after an inquiry in
Britain into a hospital which retained thousands of body parts without
consent.

Green Lane, New Zealand's top heart facility, then set up a group to
decide what to do about the hearts, some of which had been collected
without consent.

The collection began in 1950, when consent to retain hearts was not
an issue.



The hospital's paediatric cardiac surgeon, Dr Kirsten Finucane said that
was partly because most of the hearts were removed for autopsy, and
delays meant the child might have already been buried so it was not
appropriate to return the heart to the family.

These days, pathologist's examinations would be done the day after
death, and the heart returned to the body.

Dr Finucane accepted that some parents would be shocked to discover
their children's hearts might have been kept and used for research.

"I realise we have offended some ... I can understand their
upset."

She stressed that the heart collection was invaluable for research
and training. The hearts were stored in formalin, and in many cases had
been dissected.

The library was credited with enabling New Zealand surgeons to make
major advances in heart surgery and had saved the lives of many children
with heart disease.

The hospital was also working on a communication plan to inform
families of the heart library.

Dr Finucane said the hearts were well documented and it would not be
difficult to confirm whose hearts had been kept right back to 1950.

National's associate health spokesman Dr Paul Hutchison said Health
Minister Annette King should carry out an urgent inquiry, but she should
ensure minimal disruption to relatives and surgeons carrying out vital
cardiac surgery.