Livingstone body-switch bungle
Booysen Park woman cremated ‘against her wishes’ after hospital mix-up, says daughter
Ashes were all a grieving Nelson Mandela Bay family had to bury in the coffin they had lovingly picked out for their mother after her body was mysteriously switched with that of an unknown white man.
By the time staff at Livingstone Hospital realised their mistake, the man’s family had already cremated 73-year-old Nompumelelo Mbethana.
It was the undertaker who made the shocking discovery
— one day before Mbethana’s funeral on Friday last week — leaving her family with little choice but to bury the ashes and not a body as planned.
Mbethana’s daughter, Nosiphiwo, said the bungle had not only traumatised the Booysen Park family, but left them wondering if the ashes they had since buried were even hers.
“When we were notified of my mother’s death, we arranged with [the undertaker] to collect her body from the hospital,” Nosiphiwo said.
“It was only the day before her funeral that [the undertaker] realised they had been given the wrong body.
“They had noticed that the name of a black woman was written on the name tag, while the body was that of a white male. That’s when they called us.”
Nosiphiwo said they were summoned to Livingstone Hospital shortly after they received a call from the undertaker asking to meet them.
At the hospital, they were formally notified of the switch.
“We were told that the mistake was realised too late because when [hospital staff] rushed to the other family, they found that my mother’s body had already been cremated.”
Two days before the funeral and before realising the error, Nosiphiwo went to the hospital to collect her mother’s clothes, but she was handed a man’s clothing instead.
Her mother’s belongings were nowhere to be found.
She left the man’s items at the hospital.
“At the time I didn’t read much into it, but now it’s starting to make sense that the clothes I was given must have belonged to the man who was switched with my mother.
“To this day, I don’t know what happened to my mother’s clothes,” she said.
Mbethana was admitted to Livingstone Hospital with Covid-19.
She died a week later, on July 24.
Nosiphiwo said the hospital’s bungle had gravely infringed on the family’s cultural and religious beliefs.
“My mother simply did not believe in cremation.
“She never wanted that done to her.
“Our religious belief is that one day all those who have died will rise again when Christ returns, and for that reason my mother wanted to be buried and not cremated.
“Culturally, cremation has always been a foreign practice to us,” she said.
Because the mix-up was realised only hours before they were scheduled to bury their mother, Nosiphiwo said they
did not have enough time to think things through clearly.
“We had to go ahead with the funeral, so we buried the ashes because they were all we had of our mother, or what we were led to believe was our mother.
“Now we are asking ourselves, is it even really our mother’s ashes?
“If the hospital could confuse a black woman’s body with that of a white male, how do we know that it really was our mother who was [accidentally] cremated by the other family?”
With the hospital failing to give them that reassurance, Nosiphiwo said it would be difficult for her family to perform cultural rituals to appease her mother’s spirit and rectify the situation to some extent.
She said the hospital had apologised and promised free counselling, but they had not delivered on that promise.
“We have heard nothing from the other family since the day before my mother’s funeral. All they said was that they were sorry,” Nosiphiwo said this week.
After The Herald sent questions to the provincial health department for clarity on the situation, the woman said her brother was once again phoned by hospital officials, asking to meet.
“It cannot be that all they can say is sorry.
“As a family, we need assurance that the ashes we buried are those of our mother, even though she was cremated against her wishes.
“If it means digging up the ashes, then so be it, and the hospital must cover those costs.”
Eastern Cape health acting head of department Mahlubandile Qwase said the department was aware of the matter and would liaise directly with the affected families.
“The department is aware and seized with this highly sensitive matter.
“The matter is receiving attention through our quality management teams and customer care processes.
“Due to the sensitivity of the issue, correspondence will only be with the affected bereaved families,” Qwase said.
The Herald was unable to establish the name of the man whose body was switched with Mbethana’s.