Scandal broke out at Alder Hey Children's Hospital when parents discovered that the organs of their dead children had been harvested without their permission. This happened to hundreds of babies and children between 1988 and 1996.

As if having your child pass away at such a young age was not enough, parents of these children had to endure the difficult process of having the hospital return the organs to them. This meant that families would have to endure multiple burials so that the body could be complete. Even after some organs were returned and were thought to be complete, families would be contacted months or even years later to retrieve more organs that had been harvested and kept.

So, why did the hospital harvest these organs without permission? Many assumed it was for research, and while that may account for some part of it, a logical motive does not seem to be present.