SYDNEY: A couple was left distraught after a Sydney hospital accidentally cremated their stillborn daughter last year.
Anthony Meyers' and Stella Pirko's daughter was born at 28 weeks due to an enlarged bladder, and they were banking on an autopsy and genetic testing to explain the baby's condition, reported Nine News on Tuesday.
Instead, their paperwork went missing and Liverpool Hospital left their baby daughter, Krystal Rose, in its mortuary for nine days, before mistakenly sending her to a funeral home for cremation last October.
There was also no full-time technician responsible for the hospital mortuary due to a lack of funding.
"We trusted them to do their jobs - to find out what happened to our baby. We cannot fathom how this happened," said Pirko.
"I came home, I was suffering... I was a mother without a baby and it was so hard," she added.
Pirko also wanted to know why their doctor had authorised the cremation when he knew that the autopsy had yet to be performed.
The hospital has since apologised, saying that it was an isolated case and it is looking to hire a full-time mortuary technician, according to Fox News.
However, the couple is unappeased.
"For us, an apology is not going to bring our baby back, an apology is not going to give us answers," said Meyers.
The incident has had negative repercussions on the two, who are not married.
Their wedding has been postponed indefinitely and Pirko has been seeing a pyschologist for post-traumatic stress. - The Straits Times/Asia News Network
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