Families given bodies with wrong brain or lost organs

BEREAVED families were given their loved ones’ bodies with other peoples’ organs inside them, reports detailing mortuary mistakes revealed.

According to a Freedom of Information request, mortuaries across England, Wales and Northern Ireland made mistakes which resulted in 278 “serious incidents” over three years.

In one case an undertaker discovered another person’s brain had been placed inside the wrong corpse.

Organs were discovered by hospitals after the rest of a body had been released on 13 occasions, while the wrong body was released to families 36 times. From 2014 to 2016 accidental damage to bodies was reported 89 times.

The Human Tissue Authority (HTA) said investigations took place when errors occurred. It defined “serious” incidents as “human errors or system failures [leading] to damage to bodies or misplaced bodies or body parts”.

During post-mortems, a deceased person’s body is opened and the organs removed for examination. Tissue is generally only be kept by pathologists where a death is suspicious.

A daughter told the BBC how her father’s brain and other body parts were stored against their wishes for 22 years at South Tyneside District Hospital.

Sarah Simpson said: “Police knocked on my door, saying it’s about my dad, Terry Simpson. I said it can’t be him as he has been dead for 22 years.”

Officers explained that her father’s organs were at the hospital, and were about to be released.