Mother to sue hospital

A mother has been given permission to sue a hospital which kept her baby daughter's brain after a post mortem.

A judge ruled at the Court of Session in Edinburgh that June Stevens, 37, could continue her claim.

She claims she suffered psychiatric injury after finding out what had happened and is seeking to sue the hospital for £100,000 in damages from Yorkhill NHS Trust in Glasgow.

Hospital managers are contesting the claim and insist that they acted properly at all times.

Nicola, Ms Stevens' baby daughter was born in June 1995 at the Queen Mother's Hospital in Glasgow. 32 days later she died as a result of a congenital abnormality of the diaphragm and a hole in her heart.

Permission was sought by Doctors to carry out a post-mortem examination, saying that the investigation might help in the treatment of other children with a similar condition.

Ms Stevens says she did agree - but was unaware that her daughter's brain was to be removed and passed on to the Neuropathology Department of Glasgow's Southern General Hospital.

She was only informed of what had happened to her daughter in October 2000.

Ms Stevens claims the shock was so severe that she lost her job and now suffers from chronic depressive illness.

Permission given to sue hospital

She has now been given the go-ahead to seek compensation but no date has been fixed for a future hearing.