NORTH Yorkshire families involved in the organ retention scandal endured another difficult day today. They received letters from the York Health Services NHS Trust informing them body parts taken from their loved ones can be returned.

To open that envelope was to reopen barely-closed wounds of family tragedy. Once more their private pain was public property. A difficult day indeed.

So the reaction of two of the mothers affected was understandable anger. They described their ordeal as horrendous and disgusting, words that we all recognise as inadequate to describe the torment they are enduring. Losing a child is an almost unbearable nightmare. But time lessens the rawness of the grief, and allows families to rebuild their lives.

The Alder Hey scandal shattered them all over again. Suddenly hundreds of bereaved families across the country learned that their precious children had been treated as medical research fodder after their deaths. Hospitals around the country were found to be hoarding hearts, lungs and other organs.

These shocking revelations heaped fresh agony on families who were still struggling to come to terms with their loss. It was a terrible scandal. It should never have happened.

Now, though, the emphasis is on how to bring this deeply unhappy chapter to a close. That is what today's letters from the York NHS trust aim to do. They follow meetings between the trust's medical director and many of the parents.

Families have to decide what to do next. They have eight options, from cremation of the body parts to donating them for medical research. One more agonising decision. Then it should be over finally.

These families were robbed of their peace of mind twice over. Nothing will give it back to them. All they, and we, can do is hope that the reforms introduced in the wake of this disgraceful affair do their job. It must never happen again.

Updated: 10:33 Tuesday, August 07, 2001