Funeral mix-up: family mourns and cremates wrong body

A COVID-19 victim's family thought that they were paying their last respects to him, but they instead ended up conducting a funeral for a stranger. Due to a mix-up at the morgue, the unnamed man's body was not sent out. The distraught families had to undergo the trauma of finding out about the error. An investigation has been launched to find out how the incident could have happened.

Early this month, a man admitted to Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey succumbed to COVID-19. Staff from the Co-op Funeral Care in Knaphill, Hampshire went to the morgue to collect the body. The bodies of COVID-19 victims are kept concealed in body bags when released. The body bags have labels on the outside with the victim's name and birth date on it, which should match the information present on the hospital wristlet.

Somehow, the body bag collected by the mortuary staff contained the body of a different person. The body was then taken to the mortuary where it was prepared for the funeral. The embalmer checked the body for a pacemaker and jewellery within 24 hours of its release from the hospital.

Since the man was a COVID-19 victim, his family could not see his body before the cremation. They attended the funeral where they saw the coffin containing the body get cremated. The cremation took place at around 9:30 am on Thursday, June 4.

On Friday, June 5 an audit at Frimley Park Hospital revealed the disturbing error. Staff realised that the body of a man who was due for cremation was still in the hospital morgue. When they contacted the family of the man asking the other body to be returned, they were told that the body had already been cremated.

The families of both the deceased people were informed of the mix-up, causing great distress. According to The Mirror, the man's body was finally cremated after his family ended up mourning him twice. Both Co-op Funeral Care and Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust extended their apologies to the affected families.

James Taylor, from Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, stated that mistakes of this nature are rare. However, he assured that the incident is being investigated to avoid such a circumstance in the future.