Grieving families to face indefinite wait for report into incinerated organs 

Leona Bermingham at her home, with a photo of her deceased child, twin baby Lee. Lee died on September 18, 2019, hours after she had given birth to him and twin brother Lewis by emergency caesarean at 33 weeks. Picture: Larry Cummins

Distraught families whose babies' organs were sent abroad for incineration without their knowledge now face indefinite delays to find out why it happened. 

Cork University Hospital (CUH), from where the organs of 18 deceased babies were sent to Antwerp for incineration, has been accused of lacking compassion by not giving families access to a draft copy of an investigation into the scandal. 

Families had initially been informed that a draft copy of the review — which is already a year overdue — would be made available, but they have now been told they must wait for a final report to be published, a date for which has not been given. 

'Compassion is long gone'

One of the 18 mothers, Leona Bermingham, said families discovered from the Patient Advocacy Service that they must wait for the final report, instead of a draft copy that had been promised in previous communications with the hospital group.

Ms Bermingham said there is anger that some people with access to the draft report will be aware of what happened while parents are left in the dark.

“We are grieving families," she said. "Where is the compassion? The compassion is long gone.” 

The organs were sent for incineration to Antwerp in late March and early April 2020 without the knowledge or permission of families, as health chiefs decided space needed to be freed up at the morgue because of the possibility of increased deaths from Covid-19.

A draft report of the investigation into the incineration was originally due to be released in October or November 2021. After a number of setbacks, the families had then expected to receive a draft report by September 30 this year.

Correspondence seen by the Irish Examiner from the hospital to the families in early September stated that the review team anticipated it would “be in a position to share the draft report with the families by mid-late September”.

Ms Bermingham and her partner Glenn Callanan were the first of the 18 families to go public about the scandal in September 2021. Their son Lee died hours after Leona had given birth to him and twin brother Lewis by emergency C-section at 33 weeks gestation.

She told the Irish Examiner that it is now two years since they found out that perinatal organs from Lee had been sent to Belgium for incineration with industrial waste.

According to Health Service Executive standards, organs retained after post-mortem should be sensitively disposed of by burial or cremation only.

The organs of the 18 babies were initially stored in the morgue at Cork University Hospital after being released by the pathology department following post-mortem examinations.

According to internal correspondence, mortuary staff at CUH became aware early in 2020 that its burial plot in Curraghkippane’s St Mary’s Cemetery was full and the organs could not be buried.

The families affected by the scandal want the Human Tissue Bill to be published immediately because they want a legislative framework for organs used in post-mortem examinations to ensure other families do not experience similar issues in the future.

When contacted for comment, a spokesman for the South/Southwest Hospital Group said consultation was continuing with the affected families in relation to the report.