Sarge
05-22-2004, 12:04 AM
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/05/19/canada/unbornchild040519
Family wants answers after fetus returned in cardboard box
Last Updated Fri, 21 May 2004 4:49:56
THUNDER BAY, ONT. - A Northern Ontario First Nations community says it wants a full investigation into how a hospital allegedly mailed the remains of a miscarried fetus back to the family in a cardboard box.
Zeb Kenequanash
"I was appalled and upset and disappointed of what had happened to this fetus," North Caribou Lake First Nation Chief Zeb Kenequanash told CBC News Online.
"The mother went hysterical after she found out the unborn child came through the mail."
Kenequanash is calling for a full police investigation and a coroner's inquest into the incident. The family, who live in North Caribou Lake, a remote community hundreds of kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay has also retained a lawyer.
In March, the woman was medevaced to Sioux Lookout hospital, said Kimberly Whetung a senior policy adviser with the Chiefs of Ontario, which represents 134 First Nations across Ontario.
The woman had completed her first trimester but miscarried at the hospital. Because the hospital did not have a pathologist on staff, the fetus was sent to Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, Whetung said.
The family requested the fetus be returned to the community. The mother was told that the remains would be taken from the hospital to a funeral home.
Instead, the fetus was sent by Purolator in a cardboard box to the wrong address – a post office in Pickle Lake, a community about 300 kilometres from North Caribou Lake. It was labelled "diagnostic specimen" and "room temperature."
Whetung said the box had been stamped with two addresses, the Pickle Lake address and the family address in North Caribou Lake. The box eventually made its way to the North Caribou Lake post office where it sat for six days.
On May 10, nearly 40 days after the miscarriage, the mother picked up the box.
The box was battered, partially opened and with only one piece of tape around it, Kenequanash said.
Kenequanash said the mother did not know what was in the box when she opened it. He said the fetus was wrapped in plastic in the box and badly decomposed.
Ontario's Health Minister George Smitherman pledged to investigate the incident.
"My immediate reaction was shock and dismay and disgust," Smitherman said.
Smitherman said it his understanding that this is the established protocol for transporting remains because of the transportation challenges in the remote area. But Smitherman said he did not condone the practice.
"I am not expressing confidence that those protocols are appropriate," he said.
Kenequanash said he had never heard of any similar incident like this before.
Media release
Read the media release from the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre [in pdf format]
National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, said in a statement he was "appalled that such an inhumane action can take place in this day and age."
"I pray this will never happen again to any family, anywhere in Canada."
Late Wednesday night the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre issued a news release offering its condolences to the family. It said that since the identity of the family has been released it will now be possible to investigate the situation.
Written by CBC News Online staff
Family wants answers after fetus returned in cardboard box
Last Updated Fri, 21 May 2004 4:49:56
THUNDER BAY, ONT. - A Northern Ontario First Nations community says it wants a full investigation into how a hospital allegedly mailed the remains of a miscarried fetus back to the family in a cardboard box.
Zeb Kenequanash
"I was appalled and upset and disappointed of what had happened to this fetus," North Caribou Lake First Nation Chief Zeb Kenequanash told CBC News Online.
"The mother went hysterical after she found out the unborn child came through the mail."
Kenequanash is calling for a full police investigation and a coroner's inquest into the incident. The family, who live in North Caribou Lake, a remote community hundreds of kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay has also retained a lawyer.
In March, the woman was medevaced to Sioux Lookout hospital, said Kimberly Whetung a senior policy adviser with the Chiefs of Ontario, which represents 134 First Nations across Ontario.
The woman had completed her first trimester but miscarried at the hospital. Because the hospital did not have a pathologist on staff, the fetus was sent to Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, Whetung said.
The family requested the fetus be returned to the community. The mother was told that the remains would be taken from the hospital to a funeral home.
Instead, the fetus was sent by Purolator in a cardboard box to the wrong address – a post office in Pickle Lake, a community about 300 kilometres from North Caribou Lake. It was labelled "diagnostic specimen" and "room temperature."
Whetung said the box had been stamped with two addresses, the Pickle Lake address and the family address in North Caribou Lake. The box eventually made its way to the North Caribou Lake post office where it sat for six days.
On May 10, nearly 40 days after the miscarriage, the mother picked up the box.
The box was battered, partially opened and with only one piece of tape around it, Kenequanash said.
Kenequanash said the mother did not know what was in the box when she opened it. He said the fetus was wrapped in plastic in the box and badly decomposed.
Ontario's Health Minister George Smitherman pledged to investigate the incident.
"My immediate reaction was shock and dismay and disgust," Smitherman said.
Smitherman said it his understanding that this is the established protocol for transporting remains because of the transportation challenges in the remote area. But Smitherman said he did not condone the practice.
"I am not expressing confidence that those protocols are appropriate," he said.
Kenequanash said he had never heard of any similar incident like this before.
Media release
Read the media release from the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre [in pdf format]
National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, said in a statement he was "appalled that such an inhumane action can take place in this day and age."
"I pray this will never happen again to any family, anywhere in Canada."
Late Wednesday night the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre issued a news release offering its condolences to the family. It said that since the identity of the family has been released it will now be possible to investigate the situation.
Written by CBC News Online staff