Grandfather’s body to be released for burial after The Advertiser demanded answers

The family of a beloved grandfather whose body has been kept in the morgue for more than three weeks today received welcome news after The Advertiser exposed their plight.

A grieving family will finally be able to lay a beloved grandfather of 10 to rest after The Advertiser asked the Courts Administration Authority and Attorney-General Kyam Maher why Mr John Griffiths’ body had been held by the Coroner’s Office for three weeks with no sign of release.

Mr Griffiths’ daughter Kylie Underwood said she had been “getting the run-around” from staff since the death on July 9 and was told on Tuesday only one staff member could sign the release papers and office staff did not know when this person would next be rostered to work.

After inquiries by The Advertiser, the Coroner’s Office has suddenly notified the family the body will be released to the undertaker on Wednesday.

An emotional Ms Underwood said she feared without the intervention they would be left in limbo for the foreseeable future.

“Thank you so much for your help in getting my Dad’s body,” Ms Underwood told The Advertiser.

“You will never understand just how grateful my family and I are.

“We just did not know where to turn and were getting nowhere. We just wanted to lay Dad to rest in dignity, and now we finally can.

“It was heartbreaking knowing he was just stuck in the morgue with no sign of release. Without an advocate we were facing a brick wall.”

John Griffiths with daughter Kylie on her wedding day in 2009.

Mr Griffiths, 77, a retired diesel mechanic of Surrey Downs and grandfather of 10, died in Modbury Hospital and his body was transferred to Lyell McEwin Hospital after the family was told the Modbury morgue “was full.”

He had pneumonia, and was suffering delirium linked to dementia when he died which lead to the death being a “reportable event” resulting in the referral to the Coroner.

While not referring specially to the case, the Coroner’s Office released a statement noting it is dependent on the availability of sessional medical practitioners to conduct pathology reviews.

“Pathology reviews are undertaken in order of date of death,” it said.

“Having regard to these variable factors, a fixed time for the preparation of a pathology review cannot be provided.”

The statement says the Coroner’s Office is “acutely aware of the distress which may be caused to families who are awaiting the release of their loved ones.”

The state government has committed $349m to build a new Forensic Science SA building after a series of horrifying revelations about storage of bodies.

Last September the Advertiser revealed blood and bodily fluids from a corpse seeped through the mortuary floor, through a ceiling and on to a desk in the floor below.

The sickening blood seepage incident occurred over a weekend when gases in the body of a “very large gentleman’’ expanded and forced blood and bodily fluids to be expelled over several days, officials said at the time.

The incident – and others including maggot infestations in walls and a lunch room, putrid smells permeating work spaces and family visiting areas and mould growing on sensitive police files – were used in the business case for the new state-of-the-art facility to house FSSA and SA Police’s Forensic Services Branch.

Maggots at the Forensic Science SA building, December 2021. Picture: Supplied

While there was only one incident involving blood and fluid seepage, a source had told The Advertiser “flies and maggots were a constant problem. Unfortunately they come in on some of the bodies and because the building is not sealed, they spread throughout.’’

Earlier evidence to a parliamentary committee revealed dead bodies are being kept in a secret external storage facility under a “disturbing rack, pack and stack policy” implemented because the morgue at Forensic Science SA is full.

The evidence given in October 2022 from Forensic Science SA director Professor Linzi Wilson-Wilde said the existing Divett Pl premises was not fit for purpose.

“The mortuary has exceeded capacity, so we have an off site facility to assist with the body storage facility,” Prof Wilson-Wilde told the committee, noting the agency has been approached by hospitals to take bodies because their own morgues are full.

For security reasons, the location of the storage facility could not be disclosed.

Committee member Frank Pangallo MLC said families of the deceased would be “horrified” at the situation, which he called a “disturbing rack, pack and stack policy that seems to be going on with human cadavers”.

Originally published as Grandfather’s body to be released for burial after The Advertiser demanded answers