The Department of Health has said forthcoming guidelines should prevent similar cases to that of a Co Kerry woman who found her dead son's tissue in a bucket in the hospital where she worked.
Brain tissue of a 12-year-old asthmatic, Sean Tierney, was found in a bucket by his mother in 1997 at Tralee General Hospital, Co Kerry, where she worked as a cleaner.
The Southern Health Board yesterday confirmed two newspaper reports which said the hospital released the tissue last week to the family to bury with the boy's body.
It said it was now adhering to existing guidelines from the Royal College of Physicians which, according to the Department of Health, stipulate that "specific consent" from parents or next-of-kin be obtained if tissue is being retained as part of post-mortem examination.
The SHB added that it had recently reviewed its protocols and procedures. "When the board became aware of this particular case we responded as sympathetically and appropriately as we could," it said.
The Royal College of Physicians, the body responsible for pathology practice in Ireland, has recommended that "specific consent" be sought from parents or next-of-kin when post-mortem examinations take place. The organisation is currently drafting a new set of guidelines which will be issued to all its members in the new year.
The Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health has recently written to the heads of health boards asking them to ensure that next-of-kin are always informed of post-mortem procedures which will involve organ or tissue retention.
The Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, said: "I am confident the guidelines will ensure that tissue and organs will only be used for diagnostic, treatment and research purposes where explicit consent has been obtained from next-of-kin".
The parents of 98 children whose organs were retained after post-mortem examination at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, are currently being contacted by the hospital.