Woman Forced To Store Baby's Remains In Her Refrigerator After Hospital Staff Refuses Them

A woman in the U.K. was forced to keep her baby’s remains in the refrigerator after a miscarriage because the staff at a London hospital allegedly refused to store them.

“I was there holding my baby in a Tupperware box, crying, with 20 or 30 other people in that waiting room,” the woman said.

Laura Brody, 39, was about four months into her pregnancy when doctors took a scan and confirmed her baby had died. However, she and her partner, Lawrence White, were sent back home and told to wait for a bed to become available for the dead baby to be delivered.

Brody woke up two days later in severe pain and delivered her infant’s remains in the bathroom about two months ago.

“It was then," she told BBC, "I saw it was a boy."

She had already experienced an early miscarriage before and wanted to take the remains to the hospital for tests. So the couple called the emergency number but were told their situation wasn’t an emergency.

They then wrapped their miscarried son in a wet cloth and took the remains in a Tupperware box to the University Hospital Lewisham's A&E department. They were made to sit in the general waiting room.

“No one would want their baby’s remains to end up in a Tupperware box. It was just shoved onto the side, and completely ignored by staff, and treated like it was trash,” Brody told The Guardian.

“They said we didn’t have the paperwork for the remains to be taken to the mortuary. Which we found extraordinary because it was ridiculous to expect someone who had just given birth at home to suddenly conjure up paperwork,” she went on to say.

The couple said someone suggested placing the remains in a “staff fridge.”

“We didn’t know what that meant; if that was a fridge where everyone stores things … We didn’t want the baby’s remains to get lost … ”

Brody eventually had to be taken in for surgery to remove the placenta. She and White decided their only option was to store the remains in their own refrigerator.

"I took a Tupperware box containing my baby's remains home from hospital in a taxi, cleared up some space in our fridge, and put the box in there," White told BBC.

"It just felt so grotesque," Brody added.

Greenwich and Lewisham NHS Trust said they are investigating the incident.

"We are deeply sorry and offer our sincerest condolences to Ms. Brody and her partner for the tragic loss of their baby and these traumatic experiences," the trust said, according to the outlet. "A full investigation is underway to understand where failings in care may have occurred so that any necessary changes and improvements can be made."

"Every loss of a child is a tragedy, and my deepest sympathies are with Ms. Brody and her family," said the minister for women’s health, Maria Caulfield, according to The Guardian. "Later this year, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists will publish new guidelines which will support NHS trusts to deliver more personalized miscarriage care…"