A widow received damages from an NHS trust after a mortuary allowed the body of her late husband to decompose to the point he was “unviewable”, the Guardian can reveal.
Caroline Murray said she had struggled to grieve properly and suffered from intrusive mental images of what the body of her husband, Paul, would have looked like in an advanced state of decomposition.
When the body was finally released to the family five months after Paul’s death, the funeral directors were unable to identify him from a photo and advised his widow not to view him. She was only able to identify her husband over the phone when the funeral director confirmed that Paul still had his wife’s rosary beads in his hand.
Ultimately, the family were unable to hold a funeral mass before the cremation, owing to the poor state of the body.
In out-of-court settlement proceedings, Hampshire hospitals NHS foundation trust admitted it failed to follow internal procedures regarding the timing of body condition checks after Paul’s death in November 2020.
Lawyers acting for the trust said the oversight occurred during the Covid-19 crisis when the mortuary was experiencing “unusually high levels of occupancy and significant understaffing”.
An internal investigation by the trust cast doubt on claims by mortuary staff that they had conducted a first body check, after it emerged that paperwork had been completed retrospectively only after concerns had been raised.
Caroline said: “It’s been absolutely devastating, unbelievable. Because dealing with losing Paul and then dealing with all of this … It’s been horrendous. I’ve been having to put all the normal feelings of grief to one side because I’ve been trying to get straight in my mind what the hell had really happened. It’s just been awful, awful.”
The couple, who were married for 43 years, lived in Whitchurch, Hampshire. Paul worked for Hampshire fire and rescue service and was a member of the urban search and rescue team (Usar), travelling the world to assist with overseas disasters including the 2011 earthquake in New Zealand.
“I can’t sum him up in five minutes, he was just the most wonderful, caring person in the world,” Caroline said. “He loved the outdoors, ice climbing, skiing, he was the kindest person in the world. I’ve never heard him say anything derogatory about anyone ever.”
Paul, who had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, died aged 64 on 20 November 2020 and his body was transferred to the mortuary of Basingstoke and North Hampshire hospital on 23 November.
A month later, on 23 December, mortuary staff claim they conducted a body condition check and found it to be “unviewable”, but an internal investigation found that the check did not take place.
The investigation root cause analysis report, conducted by a cellular pathology laboratory manager at Queen Alexandra hospital in Portsmouth between July and September 2021, found a “lack of evidence” to explain why the opportunity to freeze Murray’s body at 30 days was missed.
The report said a record of the condition of body check claimed to have taken place on 23 December 2020 was completed retrospectively. When the Hampshire trust’s pathology laboratory manager challenged the validity of the document, the mortuary team said it had been completed at a later date to help train a team member on the process. The investigation found this explanation “improbable”.
The Hampshire trust continues to insist that the body check on 23 December took place. However, even if the check did take place, the trust accepts it did not act on the finding that the body was “unviewable”.
The mortuary team told the investigation that a call was made to the coroner’s office on 23 December 2020 to request permission to freeze the body. However, there is no record of the call. The investigation found it “improbable” that the call was made given the meticulous nature of the rest of the coroner’s office case notes.
When the body was released to the funeral directors, it was so badly decomposed that they were unable to see a severe scar on Paul’s leg from a motorcycle accident as a teenager.
Caroline said: “I don’t want this to happen to anyone else. I don’t want anybody else to have to go through this horrendous trauma. I want people to be aware of what happens.”
Caroline’s lawyers argued in their letter of claim that the treatment of Paul’s body was a breach of his family’s rights under article 8 of the European convention on human rights (ECHR), regarding the right to respect for private and family life.
In a separate case in 2021, Judge Andrew Saffman concluded that Leeds teaching hospitals NHS trust had breached article 8 by failing to preserve the body of Emily Whelan, and awarded her family damages.
In the Murray settlement, lawyers acting for the Hampshire trust denied that the treatment of Paul and his family amounted to a breach of the Human Rights Act.
Matthew Gold, who acted for the widow, said: “Paul’s death was traumatic enough for his wife, Caroline, to deal with on the 20 November 2020. The failure by the Basingstoke and North Hampshire hospital to preserve Paul’s body resulting in it being unrecognisable made matters much worse.
“This amounted to a breach of the Human Rights Act as Paul’s body was not shown dignity and respect. The hospital trust settled Caroline’s claim following a critical investigation report. Sadly, this is not the only instance of bodies not being properly preserved causing families severe upset following the deaths of their loved ones.”
Alex Whitfield, the chief executive at Hampshire hospitals NHS foundation trust said: “We are deeply sorry that the care we provided in this case fell short of the high standards our patients and their families rightly expect.
“A thorough investigation took place, with robust measures implemented to prevent this happening again. We recognise and are sorry that these learnings cannot change what happened for Mr Murray and his family.”
