Families 'devastated' over findings of baby organs report

Leona Bermingham, Sarah Jane Connolly, and Katie Quilligan, whose babies' organs were incinerated without their permission. Picture: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision

Management at Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH) has accepted that families were badly let down by the decision to incinerate deceased babies' organs without the consent of their parents.

Families have described the absolute devastation of reading the findings of an investigation into the scandal that has revealed the babies were not, as they were previously told, incinerated in Belgium, but rather in Denmark.

The report was delivered to families on Friday after significant delays, which health chiefs blamed on “unforeseen circumstances”, including pandemic-induced staff shortages and difficulties sourcing external experts for the review.

A number of recommendations are contained in the report, with far-reaching consequences for autopsy practices in Ireland, including a request for the HSE to update its “waste management” guidelines.

According to the report, the decision to incinerate the babies' organs was made by post-mortem staff “in an attempt to maximise existing refrigerated capacity in preparation for Covid”.

The report details how the CUH cemetery became full in December 2019 and staff spent several months exploring alternative locations for the burial of infant remains but to no avail.

Staff also considered having the organs cremated, despite not having permission from the families, but “as only a monthly service could be provided" it was felt that this was not an answer to the "immediate and urgent needs” to free up space, the report said.

Staff decision

The review said the post-mortem team was dealing with the “unexpected and unanticipated pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic”, and as an alternative burial site for CUH had not yet been identified, staff decided to incinerate the perinatal organs alongside adult body parts. 

The incineration process was carried out on March 25 and April 2, 2020, when the remains of 18 babies were sent abroad without the knowledge of their parents.

On April 3, a consultant inquired on behalf of a family as to the burial date of their baby's remains and was informed by the post-mortem team that the remains were sent for incineration. A review was later established amid outcry from the parents affected.

The report said CUH was “very cognisant of the length of time it has taken to complete this review” and said future reviews should be “completed in a timely manner so that patients, families, and staff are not waiting an extraordinary length of time”.

A new policy surrounding post-mortem services in Ireland is due to be released by the end of the year, and CUH is now fully compliant with existing standards.

In a statement, the South/South West Hospital Group, CUH, and CUMH apologised to the families affected and fully accepted the findings of the report.

The group “deeply regrets that this distressing incident occurred and acknowledges that an error was made” and said the report’s recommendations will be implemented in full in its hospitals by spring 2023.

Families react

One of the mothers of the 18 babies whose organs were incinerated has said those affected must be given a chance to look "these people in the eyes that have crushed our lives".

Katie Quilligan said the report itself is insufficient, and she wants a face-to-face meeting with the person who “signed off” on sending the organs of her son James for incineration, as well as the person who did it, and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly.

“It’s all well and good them saying by paper, email, and in the Dáil they are sorry, but we need to look these people in the eyes that have crushed our lives.” 

The remains of Leona Bermingham’s son Lee were also incinerated without her permission. 

She said she was “absolutely shocked” after finding out in the report that her son’s remains were not in Antwerp, Belgium, but in fact in Denmark.

“I’m disgusted really at how it has been dealt with. All this time and they still don’t have the decency to pick up the phone and communicate with us exactly where our child’s brain is.”

She said the families were “absolutely devastated” reading the report, and for her “an apology at this stage means absolutely nothing”.

According to the report, staff decided to incinerate her son’s remains due to “due to severe pressure on the post-mortem room team in unprecedented circumstances in preparation for the pandemic”.

“I don’t think after two and a half years that’s a good enough explanation,” she said. 

“We have heard Covid as an excuse time after time, it’s just not good enough.” 

She said she could not understand how staff “didn’t think clearly” before sending the organs abroad and "justice has not been served” through this report.

Ms Bermingham said she will not stop until legislation is implemented that prevents human remains from being sent overseas to be incinerated.