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A premature baby, who died weeks after being born at a world renowned hospital in Boston, may have been accidentally discarded as bed linens in a shocking revelation.
Everleigh Victoria McCarthy was only two pounds when she arrived three months early on July 25, 2020, at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
When the baby developed a brain bleed and was put on a ventilator it seemed unlikely she would survive.
The devastated parents, Alana Ross, 37, and Daniel McCarthy, 38, waited and prayed that their baby would come through.
Sadly, their daughter died on August 6, 2020, 12 days after being born, family attorney Greg Henning told DailyMail.com.
Her devastated parents began to make arrangements and plan for a memorial service for their daughter until they learned the shocking news.
The funeral home informed them that their daughter’s body was missing and soon their grief turned into a horrific nightmare.
First-time parents, Alana Ross, 37, and Daniel McCarthy, 38,waited and prayed that their baby, Everleigh would grow stronger and that they would be able to bring her home, but sadly their daughter did not survive and passed away 12 days after being born
The distraught couple called the hospital trying to get answers, but when they were unable to get adequate information they contacted the Boston Police Department, the attorney confirmed.
Hospital employees said they could not find the baby’s remains, according to a police report obtained by DailyMail.com.
According the report, police determined that the baby’s body ‘was probably mistaken as soiled linen’ and discarded.
‘It’s like she died all over again,’ Ross told The New York Times.
Ross, who had suffered two prior miscarriages before learning she became pregnant with Everleigh, was traumatized once again.
In a statement on Friday, Sunil Eappen, Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s chief medical officer, issued a statement to DailyMail.com expressing their condolence, but were unable to provide further information. ‘We continue to express our deepest sympathies and most sincere apologies to the Ross and McCarthy family for their loss and the heartbreaking circumstances surrounding it,’ Eappen said. ‘As with any instance in which there is a concern raised related to our standard of care or practice, we readily and transparently shared the details with the patient’s family. ‘We always evaluate both system and human factors that contribute to errors or potential issues raised by patients, family members or staff and take action’
On Thursday, Ross and McCarthy sued the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Suffolk County Superior Court, in Boston.
Henning, who has been working with the couple for nearly two years, told DailyMail.com that the lawsuit was being filed now because he said, ‘it wasn’t going to be resolved any other way.’
‘Alana and Daniel have been dealing with a lot of trauma and stress with this and we determined now is the appropriate time to file the suit,’ he said.
Henning confirmed to DailyMail.com, referring to a 50-page complaint that there is no monetary amount sought.
‘My clients look forward to the opportunity to speak to a jury and tell them what happened to Everleigh,’ he said.
On Thursday, the grief-stricken parents sued the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Suffolk County Superior Court in Boston
In a statement on Friday, Sunil Eappen, Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s chief medical officer, issued a statement to DailyMail.com expressing their condolence but were unable to provide further information.
‘We continue to express our deepest sympathies and most sincere apologies to the Ross and McCarthy family for their loss and the heartbreaking circumstances surrounding it,’ Eappen said.
‘As with any instance in which there is a concern raised related to our standard of care or practice, we readily and transparently shared the details with the patient’s family.
‘We always evaluate both system and human factors that contribute to errors or potential issues raised by patients, family members or staff and take action.’
Detectives interviewed a hospital pathologist who initially told them that only pathologists were allowed inside the examination room in the hospital’s morgue.
The hospital pathologist also said that no soiled linens had been removed the day after Everleigh’s body was brought there, The New York Times reported.
According to the police report, the pathologist later admitted that he had seen linens on a stainless steel tray. He said he disposed of them in a bag meant for soiled materials.
Police learned that the linens were taken to a cleaning service with an on-site compactor.
Officials also learned a waste management company sends the hospital waste to landfills in South Carolina and New Hampshire, or it is incinerated at another facility, the news outlet reported.
During the time of the horrifying incident, officers and employees searched a waste center in the Boston neighborhood of Roxbury twice, according to a police report.
Amid dirty hospital gowns, blood-soaked clothes and rags, and soiled linens and towels, they were unable to locate a body, the report stated.
Authorities determined that Everleigh’s body had not been put in the ‘proper area where deceased children’ it was supposed to be placed in the morgue cooler.
The lawsuit alleges that the remains were most likely sent to one of the landfills or were incinerated, according to the police report.
When DailyMail.com asked Henning if there were other locations the hospital may have searched for the baby, Henning replied, ‘at this point that is all we know, but obviously that will be an important question going forward.’
Police also noted, in the report, that one of the nurses who had brought the baby’s body to the morgue had reportedly not returned calls from the hospital.
Officials also noted that the hospital failed to give detectives a ‘complete video’ of what took place.
Specifically, the time the baby’s body was brought to the morgue and the time hospital employees realized that her remains were missing, The New York Times reported.
The hospital is conducting their own investigation, a report said.
When DailyMail.com asked the hospital what their procedure is when someone passes away at the hospital, in this case a baby, and where the body is safely kept.
The hospital responded: ‘Due to pending litigation, we are unable to comment further on this case.
