Back in 2014, at Medway Maritime Hospital in Kent, one mother gave birth to a stillborn child. The baby girl had been taken away from the mother and passed along to other hospital staff to have a postmortem examination completed.
The child’s body never made it that far.
About a week later, medical staff asked after the body. That was when hospital staff discovered that the child’s body had been left on a transportation cot in the middle of a hospital floor.
The body hadn’t been kept cold, and was starting to rot and decay.
When the mother discovered the fate of her baby’s body, she burst into tears, “At the end of the day, she was a human being and had the right to be treated like one, like anyone else, after they’ve passed away.
“It’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life.”
She and her husband have hired a lawyer and are now taking legal action against the hospital. “I shouldn’t have to question the care of my daughter after she was out of the room because it should automatically be there,” the mother explained.
The family’s lawyer, Nick Fairweather, is in complete shock about the details of this case. He’s never seen any other case where “such abject errors have been made.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time that the Medway Maritime Hospital has been under fire for its poor care. Other medical blunders – like leaving patients over 24 hours in casualty or forgetting about the bodies of other deceased individuals – have also been found on the official hospital records.
Staff from Medway Maritime Hospital have written and issued an apology to the family – “We’re extremely sorry for the distress the family has suffered. We’ve already written to the family to acknowledge the failings on our part.” – and are now investigating the hospital policies to ensure that these failings do not occur again.
