How could they do this to my loved one?
MUM’S SHOCK AS HEART OF LATE PARTNER IS FOUND
A MUM has spoken of her shock after discovering her late partner’s heart was found in a South Tyneside hospital 17 years after his tragic death.
Jeffrey Blowers died of a heart attack aged just 25 in 1998.
Grieving family and friends held a funeral for the “bubbly” young father, but had no idea that his heart had been removed and later stored in a Tyneside hospital 40 miles away from the Middlesbrough mortuary where his body was examined.
After finding out Jeffrey’s heart was discovered in a South Tyneside District Hospital fridge in 2015, his former partner Sarah Kipling and daughter Shelby Blowers are facing the ordeal of a second burial.
Sarah says she plans to sue the hospital.
She said: “We have been told we can have the heart back to have another funeral, but it means my daughter now has to go through all of this – something she would never have expected to happen.
“She has no memory of her dad, and to make her go through all of this now is just appalling.”
Organs dating back to 1991 were discovered by auditors in 2015. It is understood Sarah and Shelby are among 13 Teesside families affected by the scandal.
Both Cleveland Police and Northumbria Police are investigating.
In Newcastle, Sarah Simpson is also demanding answers after finding out her beloved father’s organs were stripped from his body and secretly stored in South Tyneside for 22 years.
And just like Blakelaw’s Simpson family, Normanby’s Sarah and Shelby want the truth.
“The police liaison officer came to speak to me about four weeks ago about this, but I haven’t heard anything since,” said 38-year-old Sarah.
“Nobody has even spoken to us from the trust. Jeffrey wouldn’t have wanted this – if he wanted to donate his heart, he would have had a donor card.
“I have so many questions but most of all I want to know how this has been allowed to happen.”
Sarah wants to know exactly how Jeffrey’s heart could be taken from James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough and stored 40 miles away without his family’s consent.
“I knew there was a post-mortem but I thought that was at James Cook Hospital [in Middlesbrough], so how it is all the way up there is just beyond me,” she said.
“But how has nobody come across this before?
“We thought when he was buried he was as we remembered
him. To find this out is just horrible.”
The Chronicle asked the NHS how the blunder happened, but had its inquiry diverted to Northumbria Police. A Cleveland Police spokeswoman confirmed that specially trained officers are in the process of visiting the 13 families involved in their force area and will be working with them to make sure that their wishes are carried out regarding their loved ones.
Speaking about the 2015 audit which revealed the shock findings, Northumbria Police told The Chronicle: “The audit was completed in March 2015 and we were made aware that some human tissue samples had been identified at South Tyneside District Hospital that have been kept longer than necessary.
“We have been working with Cleveland Police to establish the identity of the samples and to find the relevant next of kin.”