Northern Manitoba community ‘in shock’ after hospital sent wrong body to grieving family: Chief

August 16, 2024 Canuck

Manitoba’s health authority is investigating after a family in a small northern community received and buried remains they believed belonged to a loved one — but in fact were someone else’s.

The family of 44-year-old Keith Wilson from Pimicikamak Cree Nation was notified by Manitoba Shared Health earlier this week that the funeral home which made preparations for the burial received the wrong remains, according to leaders of the community, which is also known as Cross Lake.

Wilson’s body was found in a river near Norway House Cree Nation, local RCMP said in a release late July. The man had been reported missing, and had last been seen June 29.

Police said an autopsy had then been performed on the body. On Thursday, Shared Health told CBC News in a statement they couldn’t provide specific details because of the Personal Health Information Act (PHIA), but confirmed the body of someone who was in its care for an autopsy was released to the wrong family.

The Cross Lake Band said Shared Health officials reached out to the family to tell them staff at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre noticed the mistake while doing an inventory of the hospital’s morgue.

“They found that [through] the tags that they have, they still had Mr. Wilson’s body there,” Pimicikamak Chief David Monias said.

“The family is in shock. We’re in shock. We’re in disbelief that this would happen to our citizens.… We were grieving and mourning the wrong body and now, starting all over again.”

Monias told CBC News the band reached out to Shared Health to clarify how the mistake happened.

Shared Health taking ‘full responsibility’: Norway House chief

Pimicikamak vice-chief Florence Blacksmith has been in touch with the family. She said the body was in a sealed casket, and that none of them could have noticed they were burying the wrong body.

Wilson’s father “has been taking it hard,” Blacksmith said. “His girlfriend called me two nights in a row that he’s been crying. All I can do is send a priest over there to go pray for him, and to talk to him.”

Funeral services for Wilson were held in late July. The remains were buried in Norway House.

Norway House Funeral Home declined to comment on the situation. In the statement issued by Shared Health, Chief Larson Anderson said the health authority had taken “full responsibility” for the incident.

“The funeral director, because the body was not recognizable, how would they know?” Monias said.

“Will this happen anywhere else? I mean, has this happened anywhere else?”

A glass walkway extends from a building and has the writing "HSC Winnipeg" written on its windows. — The Cross Lake Band says Shared Health officials reached out to the family to tell them staff at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre noticed the mistake while doing an inventory of the hospital’s morgue. (Trevor Brine/CBC)

Shared Health said the family that received the wrong remains was notified on Monday.

CEO Lanette Siragusa said in the statement the incident was ruled a critical occurrence, and that a review is now underway.

“We understand this event will shake public faith in our processes and we are committed to addressing the issues that contributed to it,” Siragusa said.

The CEO said a review will look into what led to the mistake, and identify improvements to the process, including ways to eliminate the risk of human error.

“We will be working to support family reunification with the proper remains of their loved one so that remembrance and a burial can be completed according to their wishes,” she said.

Chief Anderson said the health authority was working alongside the Norway House council so that “immediate steps are taken” to address the situation, and to “ensure it doesn’t happen to someone else.”

He said Shared Health couldn’t provide any specific details as to whose body was released to the family because of PHIA.

Monias said the body will have to be exhumed, and that they’re working on getting the right remains.

In 2019, a Nunavut family whose child died in Winnipeg’s St. Boniface Hospital similarly received and buried the wrong remains. Monias said this is not the first time he’s heard of a situation like this happening to a First Nation community.

He said the band will be seeking reimbursement of the costs of burying and disinterring the wrong body, as well as expenses from the burial of Wilson’s actual remains.

“For it to happen to us, it’s unacceptable. We feel we’re being revictimized in terms of what’s going on,” he said. “Can you imagine what the family is going through?”

CBC News has reached out to members of Wilson’s family.

View original article here Source