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Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH) contacted the families of 18 dead infants whose organs were incinerated without their knowledge within weeks of discovering the issue last year, The Irish Times has learned.
Bereavement nurses at CUMH rang the 18 families on May 11th and May 12th, 2020 to say that organs removed at postmortem had been sent to Antwerp for incineration.
The phone calls were followed up with registered letters on May 18th, 2020, a hospital source revealed, and it was acknowledged that a serious error had been made, and an apology was offered.
The 18 families, whose infants had all died between May 2019 and March 2020, were asked if they wanted to meet hospital staff to discuss how the error was made.
Two families did so, one engaging with CUMH staff remotely while the other family had a face-to-face meeting. CUMH had learned of the incineration around April 21st, 2020, sources said.
Further checks were carried out and it was learned that an earlier consignment of organs, which had been removed from infants between May 2019 and December 2019, had been sent in December 2019. In all, it affected 18 infants.
Criticism
This week, RTÉ’s Prime Time Investigates revealed details of the incineration, including fears held by hospital management in May 2020 that publicity would lead to criticism.
However, the engagement with the families, who had agreed that their babies’ organs would be buried when they signed consent forms for the removal of the organs, took place three weeks after CUMH staff discovered the issue.
A plot owned by Cork University Hospital (CUH), but used by CUMH, at St Mary’s Curraghkippane Cemetery, had reached capacity, but another plot owned by CUMH at St Michael’s Cemetery was available.
The CUH Curraghkippane plot was full at the end of 2019, but the St Michael’s plot “has plenty of room and these infant organs could have been buried there”, a CUMH source, speaking anonymously, told The Irish Times.
“There was capacity in St Michael’s so there is no reason why this could not have been resolved without any organs being sent for incineration,” said the source. “The whole episode and the upset caused to families was totally unnecessary.”
An external review ordered by the Minister for Health, headed up an expert in perinatal pathology, will be completed by late October or early November, and its findings and recommendations will be shared with the families affected.