2nd Stillborn’s Remains May Have Been Sent To Laundry Service
A second stillborn’s remains may have been sent to a laundry service by Regions Hospital of St. Paul in Minnesota. The announcement was made on Friday, three days after another stillborn’s remains were discovered by a worker at a laundry service in Red Wing.
The first set of remains belonged to a stillborn at 22 weeks gestational age. The second, a stillborn at 19 weeks gestational age, is still unaccounted for. Chris Boese, the hospital’s chief nursing officer, stated of the issue:
“A tragic human error was made and we believe both sets of remains were mistaken as empty linens and placed in the laundry at the same time by a hospital worker.”
Hospital CEO Brock Nelson added, “All of us are accountable. There was no foul play involved here.” Hospital officials added that they have not yet identified the employee who threw the stillborns’ remains in with the hospital’s dirty laundry. However, they added that the hospital is investigating the issue and will take full responsibility.
Regions hospital is one of the largest in the Twin Cities. It handles roughly 2,500 births per year, about 20 to 25 of which are stillborn. Families of the stillborns can either make their own arrangements or allow the hospital to work with community groups to take care of the burial or cremation of the infant’s remains.
Privacy rules did not allow Boese to release any information about the families of the stillborns. However, she stated that the hospital has apologized to both families and offered their support. While authorities are investigating the discovery of the first stillborn’s remains, hospital records showed their should have been a second stillborn’s remains in the same place.
But the second remains did not go to a funeral home or any other location. Boese explained, “We have searched everywhere. We have checked into everything. It unfortunately may be that we just will not know what happened with the remains.” Boese added that the hospital has accounted for all other stillborns.
The hospital also announced it has made several changes to make sure the incident never happens. Staff are also working with regulators at the Minnesota Department of Health.
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