A New Jersey hospital is being sued for performing an unauthorized autopsy on a stillborn baby lost in a morgue for several months.
The lawsuit against Hackensack University Medical Center was filed by a 34-year-old Jewish woman from Connecticut who claims she and her husband signed off on an exam of her baby’s remains, but objected to an autopsy based largely on religious grounds, according to NJ.Com.
The plaintiff alleges the series of mishaps began in September 2022 when doctors induced delivery due to a congenital disorder in a fetus with no chance of surviving birth. The couple’s suit reportedly states that knowing the cause of death also made the unwelcomed autopsy unnecessary.
It was the child’s mother’s understanding her son’s remains would be humanely disposed of within a month. Her suit claims the tiny body instead remained undetected in the hospital’s morgue until February 2023.
It wasn’t until June 2023 that Hackensack University Medical Center allegedly hired a fetal pathologist to perform a July autopsy without parental consent. That’s when the baby’s parents reportedly learned of the hospital’s alleged errors.
The medical group being sued reportedly expressed sympathy for “the family’s tremendous loss” in a statement provided to NJ.Com over the weekend. That comment said it shared in the family’s grief and offered its “thoughts and prayers” to those impacted. It’s not clear if the hospital disputes the allegations against its medical team.
The plaintiff alleges professional negligence and seeks remedy for the mother’s severe emotional trauma.
