Cork hospital says it is ‘truly sorry’

Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH) has apologised to the families whose babies’ organs were incinerated abroad without their knowledge.

The South/South West Hospital Group, CUH and CUMH have apologised to 18 families whose perinatal organs had been retained by the hospital and were sent for incineration instead of being buried or cremated as had been agreed.

The news first emerged this week following an RTÉ Investigates report, which said the organs were sent to Belgium for incineration.

In a statement to the Cork Independent, the group said it deeply regrets that this distressing incident occurred and acknowledge that "a serious error was made", and are "truly sorry" for the additional distress this has caused to grieving families.

The statement said: “Hospital management became aware of the incident in late April 2020 and on 11 and 12 May 2020 all parents who were affected by the incident were contacted and full disclosure took place.

“Recognising that it would be difficult for bereaved parents to be told about the incident, CUMH volunteered to take the lead role in openly disclosing the error and apologising to the parents.”

The supports of the CUMH bereavement and pregnancy loss team have been and remain in place to provide ongoing contact, care and support as required by the parents.

This has been provided not only as a result of the incident but also in acknowledgement of the impact of the delay in the review process.

The incident is confined to perinatal organs which were stored in the hospital mortuary between May 2019 and March 2020. The incineration occurred on two occasions 25 March and 2 April 2020.

In May 2020 CUH also commissioned an external expert review of the incident. The statement said: “Disappointingly there were significant delays in the review process, most notably in getting the appropriate external expertise that a review of this nature requires.”

It continued:“However the review did commence in late April this year and it is expected will be completed late October/ early November.

“The review’s findings and recommendations will be shared with the families affected and then with the wider HSE.”

The statement continued: “The review will establish the factual circumstances leading up to the incident. However, in order to provide some context, this action occurred when hospitals were preparing to significantly increase their mortuary capacity for mass fatalities due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“In March 2020 it was widely reported that healthcare expert epidemiologists were predicting there could be between 80,000 and 100,000 deaths in Ireland from Covid-19.”

CUH, the statment said, have established that all perinatal organs retained since 2 April 2020 have been buried and there is no possibility that this matter has affected other families beyond those already identified.

The statement added: “The South/South West Hospital Group and CUH deeply regret that this distressing incident occurred and acknowledge that a serious error was made, and are truly sorry for the additional distress this has caused to grieving families.”

The statement also said: “Since becoming aware of the issue, all parents affected have been informed; the error has been acknowledged and a sincere apology has been offered.

“The parents have been and will continue to be offered on going contact, care and support.

“It is important to reiterate that this matter has affected no other families beyond those that we have communicated with,” the statement concluded,” concluded the statement.