Further delay in report on babies' remains sent from Cork hospital for incineration 

The organs of 18 babies who died at Cork University Maternity Hospital were sent to Antwerp, Belgium, for incineration because its burial plot was full

Review was commissioned by Cork University Hospital in May 2020 to establish the circumstances leading to the incineration of the organs. Picture: Larry Cummins

The families of babies whose organs were sent from Cork University Maternity Hospital for incineration in Antwerp, Belgium, have been told a report into the incident has been further delayed.

The report by a review team set up to examine how the organs had been incinerated without the permission or knowledge of the babies’ parents had been due for publication in late October or early November.

However, families of the 18 babies who died at Cork University Maternity Hospital have now received correspondence telling them the report will not be published this week, as expected.

Instead, the families were told in an email there would be a “better idea by the end of this month — early May in relation to the most likely timeline”.

The review was commissioned by Cork University Hospital in May 2020 to establish the circumstances leading to the incineration of the organs. The review did not commence until April last year.

Its findings and recommendations will be shared with the families of the babies, some of whom live abroad.

Leona Bermingham, whose new-born son Lee was among the 18 babies whose organs were incinerated without their parents’ knowledge, met the review team in November with her partner Glenn Callanan.

Glenn Callanan and Leona Bermingham: 'It is ridiculous at this stage. This report was set to be finished in late October/early November 2021.'

The couple have now sent correspondence to the HSE, raising concerns about the delay in the review.

Ms Bermingham told the Irish Examiner the latest notification was disheartening, adding the report was not even at draft stage.

She said: “It is ridiculous at this stage. This report was set to be finished in late October/early November 2021.” 

Lee died on September 18 2019, hours after Ms Bermingham had given birth to him and twin brother Lewis by emergency C-section at 33 weeks' gestation.

A post mortem was held into Lee’s death. His parents only discovered his brain had been sent to Antwerp for incineration when informed in a phone call in May 2020.

His and the other 17 babies’ organs 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 organs were sent for incineration in late March and early April 2020, because space needed to be freed up at the morgue because of the possibility of increased deaths at the hospital following the arrival of Covid-19.

A spokesman for the South/Southwest Hospital Group said the “review process is still ongoing”.