Liverpool Hospital improves system after stillborn accidentally cremated

A MORTUARY co-ordinator will be employed at Liverpool Hospital after the hospital accidentally sent a couple’s stillborn daughter to be cremated.

Stella Pirko and Anthony Meyers are devastated after their stillborn daughter Krystal Rose was accidentally cremated. Picture: Channel 9 News

A MORTUARY co-ordinator will be employed at Liverpool Hospital by June after the hospital accidentally sent a couple’s stillborn daughter to be cremated, in October last year.

Scans at 28 weeks revealed Stella Pirko’s daughter had an enlarged bladder so she was induced at Liverpool Hospital.

Ms Pirko and her partner Anthony Meyers wanted an autopsy and genetic testing done so they could get some answers on why Krystal Rose had the condition.

But they were devastated to find out the hospital, in Sydney’s south-west, left their stillborn daughter in the morgue for nine days before wrongly sending her to a funeral home for cremation before the autopsy could be done.

Miss Pirko with images of her daughter in the womb. Picture: Channel 9 News

“It has impacted our lives, in a horrific way,” Ms Pirko told Nine News.

The South Western Sydney Local Health District has investigated and a number of recommendations have been implemented to strengthen systems within the hospital.

Liverpool Hospital’s general manager Robynne Cooke said a working party had been formed to implement a Mortuary Management Policy: “ ... which outlines new procedures for the collection, delivery and tracking of post mortem examinations,” she said.

“Liverpool Hospital sincerely apologises to the family and will continue to provide ongoing support.”