A funeral home has been accused of gross incompetence after two grieving parents found a bag containing underwear in their infant daughter’s coffin, instead of her body.
Emanuelle Costa Rosa died after being born prematurely on the same morning of October 25.
During her wake, a bag containing black trousers and underwear were found instead of her body in the town of Turvo, in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina.
The clothes reportedly belonged to another deceased person in the morgue.
Due to the mix-up, the girl’s burial had to be postponed by a day, and took place on Tuesday, October 26.
The Instituto Virmond – Hospital Santa Tereza, in the city of Guarapuava, has pointed the finger of blame at the funeral home, which was not named in reports.
The COO of the hospital, Michel Cunha, said: “The body was prepared and duly identified.
“The funeral home was meant to take it to the wake. But the undertaker, on entering the morgue, came across a transparent bag with black clothes and no identification.
“And out of pure distraction, he convinced himself it was the baby and took it to the town as if it were the baby. Meanwhile, the child remained in the morgue, wrapped in raffia and duly identified with tags.”
The parents only became aware of the mix-up after they removed the lid of the coffin during the wake to show their other daughter her sister.
Inside, they found the see-through plastic bag containing black trousers and underwear.
Cunha said: “We only found out about the funeral home’s mistake through social media and the news.
“We did a quick analysis and followed all the hospital protocols, but the funeral home committed a human error.
“The baby weighed 860 grams (1.9 lbs), far from what a pair of trousers and underwear would weigh.”
The funeral home was expected to make a statement on the incident. It is not clear if they have yet done so.