Hospital Switches Deceased Babies

Officials at Our Lady Of Lourdes Hospital in Camden, N.J., held a news conference Tuesday to announce a critical error involving two deceased babies.

The hospital said that last week one of its employees made a tragic error and accidentally released the wrong baby to the wrong family's funeral home.

"We take full responsibility for our actions and also for the actions of our employees in this error," said Alexander Hafala, president of Our Lady Of Lourdes Hospital.

One of the babies was a premature boy. The second baby was a full-term baby girl.

A hospital security officer released the wrong baby to a Vineland, N.J. funeral home.

"Unfortunately this error was not discovered until after the deceased infant's funeral and subsequent burial," said Mark Bateman, chief executive officer of the hospital.

Upon investigation, the hospital said that the babies were tagged correctly, but its employee did not follow the proper verification process.

"There was a breakdown. After the funeral director arrived at the medical center, the security guard and the funeral director did not go together to the morgue to do the identification together," said Barbara Holfelner, Vice President of Patient Care Services.

NBC 10 talked to the director of the Potter Quay Funeral Home in Vineland, N.J. She said that when she picked up the deceased baby, it was wrapped and she didn't have the chance to notice that it was not a baby boy.

The funeral director also said that the family held a 1-hour, open-casket funeral and never noticed that the baby was a full-term girl instead of their premature baby boy. The funeral director speculated that some of the confusion may have been because the name of the child was Robin, which could be used for a boy or a girl.

The security officer has been fired. Hospital representatives said nothing like this has happened in the 52-year history of the medical center.

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