A family is suing Yankin Children’s Hospital employees who cremated their son’s body without informing them, thinking that the child was an orphan.
As 7Day reports, the 4-month-old patient was originally receiving treatment at the Parami Children’s Hospital, but was transferred to Yankin on July 16. Unfortunately, the child passed away just nine days later.
Two days later, on the morning of July 27, the child’s parents went to the hospital morgue for their son’s body so that they could take him home and give him a proper funeral. To their horror however, hospital employees couldn’t locate the body. After going through records, it was finally revealed that the bodies of patients who had no next of kin had been collected the day before to be cremated, and that the child’s body had been wrongly tagged and released as well.
“The child’s father came and opened the case himself on July 29. They asked for their son’s body and the employees at the morgue said that they weren’t entirely sure where it was,” an officer at the Yankin police station confirmed to 7Day.
In a Facebook post, the deceased’s aunt stated that the hospital assured them that they would look after the body for three to four days. They were also told that the child’s body would not be released unless whomever came to collect it was able to show the death certificate, which was in his parents’ possession, and which would then be verified with the corresponding patient’s file.
The child’s mother said yesterday that the hospital has yet to respond to the lawsuit.
Originally from Shan State, the family had planned to give the child a Christian burial. Despite the horrific mix-up, they still went through with the funeral, and a heartbreaking photo posted by the aunt shows an empty coffin prepared for the infant.
The case has been filed under Section 297 of the Penal Code. If convicted, the defendants face a monetary fine and/or up to one year in jail.
