Anger as inspection failed to spot body blunder

THE national inspection regime for mortuaries has been criticised for failing to spot an horrific blunder that led to a body being buried in the wrong grave by someone else’s family.

The body of former paratrooper Christopher Alder, 37, was found in the morgue at Hull Royal Infirmary 11 years after his grieving relatives believed they had laid him to rest.

A police investigation established that the Alders had been given the body of Grace Kamara, 77, a Nigerian woman, and she had been buried in his place.

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The blunder only emerged in November 2011 when Mrs Kamara’s friends and family arrived at the mortuary to collect her body for burial and were told it could not be found. It is thought Mr Alder’s corpse was found in a body bag bearing Mrs Kamara’s name.

Mr Alder’s sister Janet said she is shocked and angered this was not discovered when the mortuary was inspected by the Human Tissue Authority, the national body responsible for licensing mortuaries, in 2009.

She said: “It’s very rare that somebody is left in a mortuary for that length of time so you would have thought there would have been special procedures and that would have been one of those things they would definitely check.

“You would want to make sure somebody who has been there a long time has been kept in a proper condition. I just think it’s totally unacceptable they haven’t even done checks on a body that’s been there for so long.”

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During their visit, inspectors reviewed mortuary paperwork and body identifiers for two bodies in the body store and no anomalies were found.

The inspectors said they were satisfied the mortuary was meeting the required standards, but they also found areas of concern which needed to be addressed.

These included no evidence of risk assessments for the release of bodies, unidentified and undated handwritten changes to mortuary documents, and “an issue with porter staff in the mortuary” which was not fully explained.

Miss Alder said she would now like these issues investigated further, particularly the issue with porter staff.

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A spokesman for the Human Tissue Authority said: “When inspecting, we look closely at the mortuary’s body storage facilities and operating procedures and we interview staff to ensure they fully understand these procedures and are working to them.

“During an inspection, we look to ensure there is a robust traceability system for bodies, body parts and tissues, and undertake a spot check on a sample of cases. If we find a discrepancy, we investigate further.

“Preservation of the dignity of the deceased is paramount. We do not check every body in the mortuary, but assure ourselves through checking an appropriate sample that systems of identification minimise the risk of error.”