Couple upset after their miscarried child dumped with medical waste

An Australian couple is rightly peeved at a hospital which threw their miscarried child in the trash. I'm amazed a nurse would say the following to a couple who just lost a child at 17 weeks.

On April 27, Lisa and husband were told by a nurse at Swan District Hospital that "it's not a baby, it's just a foetus" and that it had "probably been thrown out with the medical waste".

The couple had wanted to take their baby's body home to bury.

Lawyer John Hammond, who has taken on the couple's case, said there was an obligation for the hospital to report the death of a foetus to the Registry of Births and Deaths after 20 weeks.

Although Lisa was only 17 weeks into her pregnancy, Mr Hammond said she was entitled to take the foetus home to bury.

Health Minister Kim Hames today apologised to the couple and said he would investigate the incident.

An article in WA Today provides some more background on the case.

"We asked to find out where the baby was, and we were told that the baby would be sent off to King Edward Memorial Hospital for testing ... but they advised us they hadn't received any baby over the weekend."

He said that after staff at both hospitals researched the incident, it became apparent that the baby had never been sent for further tests as the couple had requested. He said that since there was no paper trail, staff "presumed it had been thrown out".