Hospital lost body of baby

Judge: Tell all

It’s been more than three years since Andrea Lewis said goodbye to her baby boy Avery — but she still hasn’t been able to bury him.

That’s because one of the city’s most prestigious hospitals, New York-Presbyterian, lost the remains of the Manhattan woman’s stillborn child following an autopsy, according to court papers.

Now, two years after suing the hospital over the incident, a judge has finally ordered hospital administrators to answer questions about what they did with the dead baby.

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Lucy Billings told the hospital in a decision dated March 23 to make the disclosure within 20 days, court records show.

State law gives Lewis the “right to immediate possession of her deceased child’s remains,” Billings wrote in the ruling, which was made public Sunday.

Lewis, now 39, was just 22 weeks into her pregnancy when she delivered the stillborn baby on March 28, 2014, according to court papers.

She prayed with a pastor and her family before holding a religious service for the deceased baby, accord- ing to her Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.

Lewis also had time to bond with her child — holding, caressing and hugging him. Hospital workers gave her keepsakes, including the child’s footprints.

Then Lewis handed the body over for the autopsy.

She says the staff knew she was planning a funeral service and burial after the autopsy. But when she called the hospital on April 1, 2014, and again on April 2, she was told the procedure typically takes two weeks.

On April 8 she learned the body was missing. But hospital staff refused to answer Lewis’ questions.

“Due to defendant hospital’s negligence, carelessness . . . and violation of its own policies and procedures, [Lewis] was deprived of the ability to cremate her deceased child,” her suit says.

She’s suing for unspecified damages over her “grievous mental anguish, suffering and sorrow.”

Judge Billings wrote in her ruling that if the hospital officials continue to stonewall, Lewis will automatically win her lawsuit.

Hospital reps did not respond to requests for comment.