A woman’s body ‘turned to liquid’ after being left to decompose in a mortuary fridge for more than two months.
The body of a 69-year-old woman went unclaimed at Port Pirie Hospital in South Australia for at least 71 days early last year. The advertiser reported.
According to staff, the body left a “bad odor” in the hospital after evaporating. Workers needed two body bags when they finally removed the human remains.
A woman’s body ‘turned to liquid’ after being left to decompose in a mortuary fridge at Port Pirie Hospital for more than two months (pictured)
Leaked documents revealed that the hospital had no plan for long-term storage of bodies and no policy for handling “unclaimed” bodies.
South Australian Health Minister Chis Picton has now ordered an investigation into the hospital’s processes.
The woman’s body arrived at hospital in late November 2021 following her death in a retirement village on the Yorke Peninsula.
The body was kept in a refrigerator at a minimum temperature of 4 degrees Celsius, which is within national guidelines for the short-term storage of a body – usually no longer than a few days.
A cleaner reported a terrible stench two months later in early February, prompting senior management to make plans to remove the body.
“The fact that a deceased person deteriorates to such an extent that a double body bag is created does not mean to me that there is concern,” said an employee.
‘It’s certainly not dignified. It’s not professional.
“People need to be held accountable.”