A pair of Boston parents are suing a hospital that lost the remains of their 12-day-old baby while they were making her funeral arrangements.
Alana Ross and Daniel McCarthy accused the Brigham and Women's Hospital of throwing away their daughter, Everleigh, because she was covered with soiled linen. The baby weighed only two pounds five ounces because she was born prematurely.
Court documents acquired by the Boston Globe detailed that two nurses took the baby to the morgue after her parents saw her one last time. Investigator Detective Kevin Cook believed that her remains might have been mistaken for trash because the transport worker in the morgue directed them to place the soiled linen bag "anywhere."
CCTV clips later showed the pathologist putting a bundle of spoiled linens in the container meant for disposal without realizing a body was in one of the bags. Though the investigators went through the pile of cloth and medical wastes, they were not able to find Everleigh's body.
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The Last Time They Saw Everleigh
Everleigh was the parents' third baby after losing two other children due to a miscarriage. They had been cautious with this pregnancy because Ross almost lost Everleigh at 18 weeks in May 2020.
A painful procedure allowed the mother to continue with the pregnancy until Everleigh had to be born premature, via an emergency C-section, in July. The baby was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) because of her medical issues.
However, Ross and McCarthy were appeased by the fact that Brigham and Women's Hospital was "the most trusted name in women's health." This was why they chose to have the baby at the hospital, per Boston 25 News.
About five days after Everleigh's birth, her parents were finally allowed to hold her at the NICU. They also discussed further treatment options with her doctors, but the baby didn't make it on the 12th day.
The baby breathed her last while her mother held her in her arms. Ross recounted that they were able to have a baptism for Everleigh, who was dressed in a white gown. Then the nurses took her lifeless body to another room. It was the last time the parents would see their daughter.
The couple said that the hospital staff promised their baby would be safely brought to the morgue, so they began making funeral arrangements. However, four days later, McCarthy received a call from the funeral home informing them that the morgue could not locate Everleigh's body.
After talking to the hospital, Ross and McCarthy reported the incident to the Boston Police Department for a proper investigation. With the report on hand, the family filed their lawsuit.
Mom's Heart Ripped Out of Her Chest
The pain of losing another baby is already hard to describe but knowing that Everleigh's remains were treated like trash made Ross feel like her heart was ripped out of her chest. They didn't have a body to bury and had no clues as to where Everleigh's remains might be.
Worse, the police report cited incomplete information from the hospital. The investigators were not provided videos of the morgue cooler CCTV. Later, the parents learned there had been a history of complaints involving the hospital's morgue.
In response, the hospital issued a statement citing their sympathies and apologies to the parents. Dr. Sunil Eappen, the hospital's chief medical officer, said they could not comment on pending litigation, per WCVB.
