Brain Aciddently Left In Another’s Corpse

In a morgue in the United Kingdom, somebody’s brain was mistakenly left inside the abdominal cavity of another deceased after a coroner’s error.

Similar post-mortem examinations have occurred in England, Wales and Northern Ireland seeing over 278 such faults in the last three years. In one case the brains of two deceased were switched and the wrong bodies given to the families.

There were 13 occasions were organs have been left in a hospital after the body had been released to the family of the deceased.

There were another 36 situations which occurred of the wrong bodies being given to the family.

One family did not find out until 22 years after a loved one’s death that his brain had been stored at the hospital against his wishes.

The director of regulation for the Human Tissue Authority, Chris Birkett, which moderates such instances stated “Incidents such as these are distressing for the families of those involved and, although they are rare, should never happen.

If an incident does happen, we work with the establishment to ensure that a thorough investigation is undertaken, that lessons are learned, and that improvements are made to mitigate the risks of similar incidents happening again.”