THE HSE is investigating an incident at the Regional Hospital Mullingar in which the body of a deceased patient was given to the wrong family.
The hospital confirmed on Sunday that the incident occurred in the mortuary of the hospital when the wrong body was released to an undertaker.
Once the mistake was realised, it was quickly rectified, according to the hospital.
It is understood that the mistake was corrected before the funeral service took place.
It is also understood that a patient at the hospital had died of Covid-19 but the body released to their family was that of another individual.
The incident occurred on Friday, April 24. The hospital said in a statement: “We would like to offer our condolences to the families and sincerely apologise for the distress this has caused during this difficult time.”
It was confirmed to the Irish Mirror that the Ireland East Hospital Group, along with Regional Hospital Mullingar, have convened their Serious Incident Management Team and are conducting a full internal review.
The hospital stated: “Processes and protocols have been reviewed within the hospital and its mortuary in order to mitigate this extremely rare event from happening again.” HSE Chief Operations Officer Anne O’Connor confirmed that an investigation into the matter is underway.
She also said that she hopes the incident is an isolated one.
Speaking at a press briefing at Dublin City University, she said: “Clearly, we would hope that this is an isolated incident.
“Certainly, there are lots of procedures in place, so that incident is being investigated. “It’s a very important and critical thing for us so we would hope the policies and procedures in place would ensure that doesn't happen anywhere else.”
