‘Don’t cremate my fetus!’
After a miscarriage, a family fought days on end to get the fetus back before it is cremated.
A young mother of a stillborn baby, who wanted to bury the boy, was left devastated when she found the hospital had already given him to a medical waste company to be cremated.
Thanbumuzi Makhaye contacted the News about his younger sister, Thepile Makhaye, fighting to get “her stillborn baby” back from Dr Yusuf Dadoo Hospital. She had signed a form that she thought was merely consent to take the baby to the mortuary, “but we found out later that it was in fact consent to cremate the baby,” Thanbumuzi said.
The following day (24 January) Thepile’s mother and the father of the baby arrived at the hospital.
“They were then offered the option of either cremating the baby or taking the body home and decided to take him home and bury him,” Thanbumuzi continued.
The family was asked to collect the boy the following day. That Monday, upon entering the mortuary, they along with the nurse realised the fetus was no longer there.
The fetus had been signed out by the cremation services and loaded into a truck to be cremated on 28 January.
Thepile said she was told by the nurse the form was just to take the baby to the mortuary.
Thanbumuzi said he informed Dr Yusuf Dadoo Hospital and was told they would do what they can to get the fetus back.
Thankfully, by 29 January, the hospital was able to get the fetus back.
“The institution would like to thank and appreciate the family for understanding and sharing the frustration of waiting for their concern to be cleared,” the hospital’s spokesperson, Puseletso Mabidikame, said.
“Procedurally the institution requested the Department of Environmental Affairs to apply for the release of the fetus from the medical waste company.”
The fetus was handed over to the family on 29 January at 5.15pm.
The Democratic Alliance Provincial Health Shadow MEC, Jack Bloom, shed light on the regulations regarding removing the fetus from medical waste.
“If it has been safely disposed of, there is no risk of infection when removing it again,” he said.
He explained that the process of retrieving the fetus could have been difficult because finding the fetus is more difficult when it is already loaded into a truck.
“There is no medical reason that you can’t remove the fetus, the problem could simply be logistical,” he said.
Bloom feels that a fetus should not be considered medical waste in the first place.
It is believed that there was a misunderstanding between the patient and nurse or between the members of the Makhaye family about keeping the 24 week old fetus.
More Yusuf Dadoo news:
Baby dies after doctor refused a C-section
More complaints surface about hospital
Gauteng’s abandoned-babies crisis
