‘Bodies damaged in our mortuaries’
Errors ‘very traumatising’ for families
HEALTH: Dead bodies have been damaged on multiple occasions and human tissue wrongly disposed of in Yorkshire’s mortuaries, new data reveals, following Freedom of Information requests.
Dozens of mistakes have been reported at the region’s mortuaries where post-mortem examinations are carried out.
DEAD BODIES have been damaged on multiple occasions and human tissue wrongly disposed of in Yorkshire’s mortuaries, new data reveals.
Dozens of mistakes have been reported at the region’s mortuaries where post-mortem examinations are carried out.
Freedom of Information requests sent to the Human Tissue Authority, which was founded off the back of the organs scandal of the 1990s when it was discovered that hospitals had been retaining body parts of dead patients without relatives’ permission, revealed there were 41 errors reported at mortuaries in Yorkshire and the Humber between 2014 and the end of last year.
Errors and mistakes, according to bereavement charity Cruse, can be “very traumatising” for families who have lost a loved one.
Among those included three instances of damage caused to
bodies at Pinderfields Hospital, in Wakefield, last year, and two similar reports from Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) in the same year. The LGI also had the highest number of mistakes reported, with seven recorded over the past six years.
The data also includes an instance where a foetus was “wrongly disposed of” last year at Harrogate District Hospital, although the hospital has claimed this incident actually occurred in its Histology Department and the specimen did not include real human fetal tissue.
Mistakes which must be reported to the HTA include damages caused to bodies, releasing the wrong body to funeral directors, presenting the wrong body for viewing – such as by police or relatives – and security breaches.
Dr Phil Wood, Chief Medical Officer at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Mistakes of this nature are rare, and we have apologised to the families involved for the distress this has caused. We have learnt from these incidents and new measures are in place to prevent this happening again.”
A spokesman for Harrogate District Hospitals NHS Trust said a full investigation was carried out into its incident “which led to us putting in place some changes to working practice to reduce the risk of such incidents happening again.”