Minister looks into storage of bodies in morgue
The province’s justice minister says his office is undertaking an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the office of the chief medical examiner storing bodies in a container due to overcrowding.
On Sept. 10, CBC Edmonton posted a video that showed a man drag a body bag across the floor of a refrigerated truck rented by the office of the chief medical examiner.
Two men manoeuvred the body onto a gurney.
“Number 1, our hearts go out to the family. Nobody should be treated in that way, deceased. They should be treated with the utmost respect. It caused me great concern that we raised with the chief medical examiner right away,” Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer told Postmedia this week.
“I’ve been assured by the chief medical examiner that this won’t happen again and we are conducting an investigation right
Nobody should be treated in that way, deceased. They should be treated with the utmost respect.
now to make sure that what happened does not happen again in Alberta.”
When asked whether there will be any repercussions, Schweitzer said he doesn’t want to prejudge what the investigation will uncover.
“One of the things we want to make sure we do is deal with this appropriately, and obviously we’ve told Albertans loud and clear this is not acceptable,” Schweitzer said.
He said the chief medical examiner, Dr. Elizabeth Brooks-lim, reached out to those affected by the incident.
“The chief medical examiner made sure she conveyed the fact it shouldn’t have happened in the first place and she conveyed the fact this was inappropriate,” Schweitzer said.
In a followup emailed statement, Schweitzer’s office said it has been aware that Brooks-lim met with the family of the deceased individual who was shown being dragged in a body bag.
She has also responded to concerns from other families.
“In the unfortunate event that there is a shortage of space in the morgue, the office of the chief medical examiner has a contingency plan in place that provides for the temporary use of mobile refrigerated storage units,” the statement said.