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Family outrage at hospital's cadaver confusion

TT/Peter Vinthagen Simpson
TT/Peter Vinthagen Simpson - [email protected]
Family outrage at hospital's cadaver confusion

A mix-up at a hospital in Karlstad in western Sweden led to relatives holding a burial service for the wrong man.

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Relatives had assembled to bid a final farewell to their deceased husband and father at the Central Regional Hospital in Karlstad. Several of the family members began to become suspicious at the effect the short period since the deceased man death had had on his features.

Several hours later one of the man's sons arranged a meeting with the hospital priest. It was then that he found out that they had said goodbye to the wrong person.

The manager of the hospital department responsible for the mix-up sent flowers to the family to apologize. This did not appease the family however who have demanded a full report over the incident and have sought financial compensation.

The family have reported the incident to the public health disciplinary board (Hälsö- och sjukvårdens ansvarsnämnd).

"It is simply human error that is to blame for the incident. An employee read the wrong name on the list when she retrieved the body. This has not happened since 1969 and will not happen again, said the manager to news agency TT.

"We will inform the relatives about exactly what happened. It is an accident and very regrettable."

Routines have however been changed at the hospital in Karlstad to ensure any repetition is avoided.

"We have put up a couple of white boards where you can check that it is the correct person, and the hospital priest will double check that it is the correct person."

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