measured: length of stay (LOS; duration of hospitalization (number of days hospitalized)), in-hospital all-cause mortality, and non-scheduled readmission (the second and subsequent hospitalizations during the period analyzed) in the 14-day, 30-day and 1-year periods following discharge. Every patient was identified on the basis of his or her personal identity number. In-hospital death was determined on the basis of information concerning outcome of hospitalization (died or discharged) which was available for every patients. When a patient was discharged and his or her personal identity number was repeated in our database, the date of the patient's discharge and readmission was checked. When the difference was shorter than 14 days, 30 days or one year respectively, the patient was recognized as being readmitted during 14 days, 30 days or 1 year,The University of Liverpool has been formally brought into the legal action in which parents are seeking compensation from Alder Hey hospital, where thousands of organs were removed from the bodies of children without consent.

The university employed Dick van Velzen, who stockpiled body parts over a period of seven years when he held the post of chairman of foetal and infant pathology.

The report into the scandal, produced last year by a committee chaired by Sir Michael Redfern, described Professor van Velzen as a maverick and recommended that he should never practise again.

It also criticised the university for not accepting any responsibility and for leaving Alder Hey to make a series of mistakes.

"Alder Hey and the university missed numerous opportunities to discipline Prof van Velzen for justifiable reasons from