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Dedicated to Baby Teresa
Here is a recent heartbreaking story about another Massachusetts couple and their 4 year struggle to have their precious baby Teresa brought back to them for a dignified proper burial
Stillbirth continues to bring anguish
Remains found two weeks ago on hospital shelf
Thursday, November 25, 1999
By JESSICA HESLAM The Patriot Ledger
QUINCY -- Four years ago, Patricia Williams lost her first baby when she miscarried at nearly six months pregnant.
She named the child Teresa Crehan Williams and asked officials at Quincy Medical Center, then Quincy Hospital, to have the stillborn baby cremated after an autopsy.
For four years, Williams has been asking the hospital for confirmation that her baby was cremated.
Now she has learned that her baby's remains never left the hospital.
Williams, 36, who is considering suing the hospital, and her husband, David, will hold a private burial for the baby.
After she miscarried, Williams, 36, said hospital officials told her they would handle the disposition. She said she signed papers authorizing an autopsy and was told the baby would be cremated.
When the hospital was unable to provide documentation of the cremation, officials there told her the hospital had lost her baby's remains.
Two weeks ago, the hospital said it had found the remains.
According to a Nov. 8 letter from the hospital's attorneys to Williams, ``the fetal remains are still located in the hospital.''
``No one should have to go through this,'' said Williams. ``I want answers to what happened. I have no way to explain why she has been sitting in a jar on a shelf.''
In a written statement, Quincy Medical Center spokeswoman Renee M. Buisson said it is standard pathology practice to store autopsy tissues for a period of time in case further analysis is required.
``We have had continuing communications with the Williams family,'' she said. ``Within the last two to three weeks, Mrs. Williams asked whether or not the hospital had retained the remains of the fetus after the autopsy. Since we retained the fetus, we were able to honor their request. We are hopeful that this helps to bring some comfort to the family.''
Buisson's statement did not address the question of whether the hospital had promised to have the baby cremated.
After she lost her baby, Williams hired an attorney, Burton Waisbren Jr. of Boston, who filed a lawsuit two years ago in a separate case against the two obstetricians treating her when she had her miscarriage.
Williams said she suffers from septicemia, an infection that affects the bloodstream, and it went undetected before her miscarriage.
Williams said she plans to view her baby's remains tomorrow, but wants to know how hospital officials are certain that it's her baby.
Williams said she wants DNA testing and another autopsy performed on her child's remains. She said the baby's body was taken to an undisclosed funeral home Monday.
Earlier this week, Williams placed a paid death notice in newspapers: ``Burial will be at the convenience of the family due to the extremely unusual circumstances of her body being held for the past 4 plus years. The reasons are unknown to the family. May baby Teresa now rest in peace.''
Williams, who has a 9-month-old girl and is a lifelong Quincy resident, said she placed the death notice so friends wouldn't think she had suffered another miscarriage.
Copyright 1999 The Patriot Ledger
Bitter quest ends for couple
Fate of stillborn sought for 4 years
Saturday, November 27, 1999
By Jordana Hart, Globe Staff
For four years, a powerful and incessant question poured out of Patricia and David Williams like a stream of tears: What had become of their stillborn daughter's body?
Quincy Hospital, where the premature baby was born and died of a bacterial infection on Oct. 20, 1995, told the couple, who live in Quincy's Wollaston section, that day that their almost 6-month-old fetus and the placenta would be autopsied and cremated according to hospital procedure, the couple said yesterday.
They said that, not wanting to put their families through a painful funeral, they agreed.
But the hospital did not cremate the child's remains. She was kept in the morgue for four years without her parents knowing. A hospital spokeswoman said pathologists decided to keep the infant's body in case further tests were needed.
Not until Nov. 8 did Patricia and David Williams learn of their daughter's fate.
Yesterday, in the rain and fog, the couple and a priest trekked to an undisclosed funeral home, to which the baby's body had been released by the hospital. Patricia Williams had bought a tiny pink Carter's one-piece jump suit with a white collar, hoping the funeral director could dress the baby. He could not.
The priest baptized the baby. The parents, who now have a 9-month-old girl, offered prayers, and made plans to finally bury the girl, who was 22 weeks and 5 days old when she died. But only after another autopsy to determine for themselves what killed her.
''People have told us to move on,'' said Patricia Williams, who with her husband has filed a malpractice suit against two of the hospital's obstetricians who cared for her four years ago.
People ''say we lost a baby, and we have a new baby now,'' Patricia Williams said. ''They just don't understand that until you put the baby to rest in a dignified manner, there will be no peace in your heart.''
Patricia Williams said their quest to find out what happened to their baby began shortly after the child died.
On Nov. 3, 1995, Patricia Williams said, her obstetrician told her the hospital had lost the placenta. In January 1996, after finding out her baby had never been baptized as she had thought, Williams exploded in anger and demanded the hospital provide proof of her baby's whereabouts, suspecting the baby's body had also been lost.
On Oct. 16, about two years after the couple filed their lawsuit against the two obstetricians, the hospital told the couple they had lost the baby's body, Patricia Williams said.
Then, on Nov. 8, the couple's bitter search ended in the hospital morgue. In a letter, the hospital's lawyers said the fetus's remains were at the hospital. Patricia Williams said that their 1-pound baby, whom they had named Teresa after Mother Teresa, had been left in a clear, plastic tray of formaldehyde the size of a boot box for the past four years.
''I feel pure rage,'' said David Williams, 42, director of the Center of Technology and Allied Health at Quincy College. ''If she's going to die because of an infection, that's acceptable. But to leave a family with so many unanswered questions and then say, `Here's the body' after so many years of stonewalling us, that is just horrific.''
The hospital - now Quincy Medical Center since its Oct. 17 affiliation with Boston Medical Center - yesterday said in a statement that the couple had given the hospital permission to peform an autopsy and be responsible for disposing of the fetal remains.
''We recognize that stillbirth of a fetus is a very traumatic situation for a family and our primary concern was, and is, supporting the Williams family,'' said spokeswoman Renee Buisson. ''It is standard pathology practice to store tissue samples for a period of time in the event that further analysis is required.''
But Buisson said that when the family continued to raise questions about the baby's death, ''the pathology department decided to retain the fetus, rather than just tissue samples, in the event more testing was necessary.'' Buisson said it is up to the hospital to decide how long to keep tissue or a body.
The problem is, said the Williamses, the hospital never told them it intended to keep the baby's body, or why.
''What was so interesting about her that they would put her in a jar like that?'' said Patricia Williams, 36, a stenographer. ''Why would they deem it necessary to hold her body and not allow her parents to know she was there, just a few minutes from where we live? They saw her as a product or specimen, not a little girl, and they did not see us as her parents.''
Buisson declined to comment on the Williams's account of how the hospital treated them in their lengthy quest to find out about their daughter's body. But Buisson said that since its affiliation with BMC, Quincy Medical Center is reviewing all its procedures.
The couple's lawsuit against the obstetricians accuses them of failing to take proper care of Patricia Williams when she came to them, 5 1/2 months into a difficult pregnancy, complaining of high fevers, bleeding, and cramping.
Specifically, the lawsuit alleges in part that one of the doctors did not examine Patricia Williams vaginally in September 1995, despite her symptoms, thereby not detecting or treating a serious bacterial infection that also was threatening the fetus.
Buisson declined comment on the allegations in the lawsuit yesterday, saying they are part of an ongoing case. The couple's lawyer, Burton Waisbren Jr., did not return telephone calls yesterday. The couple said the case is expected to be heard next fall in Norfolk Superior Court.
''If the hospital had sat us down and told us [that keeping the baby's body] could help the medical field, we would have listened,'' said David Williams. ''But to do it behind our backs? Are they doing this to everyone?''
Cindy Rodriguez of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.
This story ran on page B01 of the Boston Globe on 11/27/99.
Couple suing hospital over baby's body
By LANE LAMBERT The Patriot Ledger
Tuesday, November 30, 1999
QUINCY -- For four years, Patricia and David Williams have been upset that Quincy Hospital couldn't tell them what happened to the remains of their stillborn daughter.
Now they're going to sue.
Monday night, Patricia Williams confirmed that they'll file a lawsuit against the hospital ``very soon,'' possibly within a few weeks, claiming negligence and emotional distress.
She said they decided to sue late last week after the hospital told them the 6-month fetus, which weighed 1 pound, had been lost, then found preserved in formaldehyde in the hospital morgue.
``It was the cruelty of the way they treated our daughter,'' Williams said.
Burton Waisbren Jr., the couple's lawyer, said they will charge the hospital with negligence, negligently inflicting emotional distress and intentionally inflicting emotional distress. He said they may also charge conspiracy and fraud.
Williams said the last straw was when hospital personnel told her she could dress the baby in a gown and hold her.
``There's no way we could do that in the condition she's in,'' said Williams, who has a 9-month-old daughter.
Officials at Quincy Medical Center -- the hospital's new name -- declined to comment on the prospect of the lawsuit. Jeffrey Doran, the hospital's chief executive officer, said in a written statement that he expresses his sympathy to the Williams family ``for the pain this situation may have caused them, however unintentional.''
Doran said Dr. Jack Ansell, the hospital's new chief of medicine, will lead a review and revision of all patient-care policies and procedures.
``Based on this case, our policies and procedures regarding the preservation of tissues, family notification and any related issues are receiving priority,'' Doran said.
The couple have already sued the two obstetricians who treated Patricia Williams before the child was stillborn on Oct. 29, 1995. They claim the doctors failed to treat her for septicemia, a bacterial infection that affects the bloodstream.
The couple sued the obstetricians in 1997.
With the baby's remains now at an unidentified funeral home, the Williamses plan to have an independent autopsy and DNA testing done to make sure it's their child.
``We have zero trust in Quincy Hospital,'' Patricia Williams said.
The dispute with the hospital surfaced last week after the Williamses spent years trying to find out whether the baby's body had been cremated, as Quincy Hospital said would be done.
Soon after the tragedy, Patricia Williams signed papers authorizing an autopsy, and was told the hospital would dispose of the body.
Williams said that on Oct. 16 of this year, the hospital told her and her husband that ``they lost the body.'' On Nov. 8, they learned the fetus was being kept in the hospital morgue, preserved in formaldehyde in a small, clear plastic tray.
Williams said the hospital offered no explanation why the body was kept that way for so long.
Quincy Medical Center spokeswoman Renee Buisson said the hospital decided to keep the whole fetus for further testing, instead of tissue samples, because the Williams family ``had continued to raise concerns'' about the baby's condition and cause of death.
Williams said the hospital ``never, ever'' told them the remains could be held for months or even years for testing or other reasons.
Monday, a Boston University medical ethics professor said that's a troubling lapse on the hospital's part.
``That discussion should have occurred,'' said Dr. Michael Groden of BU's School of Medicine. The hospital's delay in releasing the baby's remains ``seems prolonged,'' he said.
In a written statement, Buisson said ``it was not standard practice'' to discuss the amount of time a fetus' remains would be held.
``We do store our autopsy tissues,'' she said, ``and in this situation we stored the fetus in the event further testing was necessary.''
Fetal death cases have drawn fresh attention from the state Department of Public Health in recent months. New regulations that strengthen parents' right to know about the disposal of a fetus went into effect Nov. 12.
The amended rules require hospitals to provide parents with information, including written policies, at any development stage. Previous regulations required such information for fetal deaths at more than 20 weeks.
The new rules say a hospital's disposal policy should be in writing and ``in conformance with state law and hospital licensure requirements.'' It's not clear whether the provision would have an effect on the Williams case.
Copyright 1999 The Patriot Ledger
State investigating hospital's handling of baby's remains
Wednesday, December 1, 1999
By LANE LAMBERT The Patriot Ledger
QUINCY -- The state Department of Public Health says it's investigating how Quincy Hospital handled the remains of a stillborn baby whose parents are suing the hospital.
Agency officials plan to examine the hospital's handling of the case from 1995, when Patricia Williams suffered a miscarriage, until this month, when the fetus' remains were found and released to the family, agency spokeswoman Roseanne Pawelec said Tuesday.
``We will determine exactly how this happened,'' Pawelec said.
The hospital, now called Quincy Medical Center, is fully cooperating with the state investigation, Vice President Mary Sweeney said.
``It is not unusual for DPH to review an incident that has received media attention,'' Sweeney said.
Pawelec said state health officials have been following news coverage of the Williams case since it surfaced last week, but she said the agency began its investigation a few weeks ago after the state received a complaint about the hospital's actions. She declined to identify who made the charge.
Pawelec said the state will review all the hospital's correspondence with Patricia and David Williams, visit Quincy Medical Center and check the hospital's written policy related to the disposal of fetal remains.
The hospital could be cited if the state determines there were ``deficiencies,'' she said. She declined to say what the sanctions might be.
City-owned Quincy Hospital became private, nonprofit Quincy Medical Center on Oct. 17. Quincy Medical began an affiliation with Boston Medical Center at that time.
The Williamses said Monday that they will sue the Quincy hospital on several charges of negligence and emotional distress. They're also suing two obstetricians who treated Patricia Williams in 1995. They say the doctors failed to detect or treat septicemia, a bloodstream bacterial infection she had then.
Patricia Williams suffered a miscarriage on Oct. 20, 1995, when the fetus was 22 weeks and 5 days old. She named the baby Teresa Crehan, and authorized Quincy Hospital to cremate the 1-pound fetus after an autopsy was done.
She began pressing the hospital for information in early 1996 after learning that the remains had never been baptized before cremation, as she had wanted.
On Oct. 16 of this year, according to Williams, the hospital told her the remains had been lost. On Nov. 8, she said she was told the body had been found in the hospital morgue -- preserved in formaldehyde in a small, clear plastic tray.
Hospital spokeswoman Renee Buissson said it's standard practice for a hospital to hold remains of a fetal death ``for a period of time'' in the event more testing is needed.
City Solicitor Stephen McGrath said the liability insurance of either the former Quincy Hospital or Quincy Medical Center, depending on how the two insurance policies are written, would cover any lawsuit damages.
McGrath said the city itself would not be liable for damages.
Copyright 1999 The Patriot Ledger
Family retrieves infant's body kept in hospital 4 years
by Franci Richardson
Thursday, March 23, 2000
The state Department of Public Health has cited Quincy Medical Center for ignoring a mother's wish to cremate her stillborn baby and instead leaving its remains on a pathology department shelf for four years.
Teresa Williams was stillborn Oct. 20, 1995, but it wasn't until five months ago that she was released to her Quincy parents, who then took her to a local funeral home. She won't be buried until her family gets more answers, said her mother.
``I always believed I'd get her back. I never stopped trying,'' Pat Williams of Wollaston said yesterday. ``I always wanted them to prove to me what they did with my daughter.''
In the state's 14-page report obtained by the Herald, Quincy Medical Center is charged with breaking the law regulating how hospitals dispose of fetal tissue.
``The hospital failed to dispose of the stillborn fetus,'' read the report released late Tuesday afternoon.
The state has given the hospital 10 days to file a corrective plan, including deadlines to implement new policy, according to spokeswoman Roseanne Pawelec. Failing to do so could run the hospital up to $500 a day in fines.
``We certainly take this very seriously. We found a violation of a state law in a case where parents' wishes were not carried out,'' she said.
Williams filed a complaint with DPH last October, after learning from a hospital attorney that her baby's remains were still somewhere in the hospital. Her repeated questions and calls over the years finally prompted someone to look in the pathology department.
A spokeswoman for the hospital yesterday called the incident a horrible mistake.
``The hospital staff is extremely sympathetic to the painful, personal loss that this family faced and regrets that any communication lapses on its part that may have slowed their ability to deal,'' said Karen Schwartzman. Yet, she said, it was an innocent mistake.
``It was absolutely through inadvertance that the fetus was not properly transferred to the morgue, which would have triggered all of the steps to proper disposition,'' she said. ``Whoever was supposed to do it thought it was being done by someone else.''
In anticipation of the state's citation, the hospital established a department to deal with concerns from grieving family members.
Williams said her work is not done. She has made the fight for her daughter's proper burial a full-time job, which took the place of grieving, she said.
``I want complete disclosure on all the issues,'' said Williams, who now has a 1-year-old with her husband, Dave. ``I'm really going to lift up every rock. Could you really go on not knowing the answers?''
Mother says organs of fetus we removed
By Tom Walsh
The Patriot Ledger - Front Page
May 17, 2000
QUINCY - Pat Williams didn't think the news could get any worse after learning her stillborn baby's remains bad been kept on a shelf at Quincy Medical Center for fear years.
Now, Williams said, notes from a state investigation of the matter indicate her baby girl's organs were removed at some point.
“It's like she keeps dying over and over,” Williams said today.
Williams’ baby was stillborn on Oct. 20, 1995.
Alter repeatedly asking the hospital for a record of her baby's cremation, Williams was told late last year that the fetus had not been cremated, but was placed in a jar of formaldehyde and put on a shelf at what was then called Quincy Hospital.
In March, the Department of Public Health rebuked the hospital and demanded that a corrective action plan be put in place. The DPH yesterday accepted the hospital's plan.
Please see ORGANS - Page 14
Mother: Organs of fetus were removed
• ORGANS
Continued from Page 14
“The corrective action plan indicates that the hospital has made certain changes to its procedures to ensure the kinds of lapses in communication that led to this mishap will not happen again,” medical center spokeswoman Karen Schwartsman said today.
She said the hospital established an Office of Decedent Affairs for handling remain and set up a more specific procedure for handling fetal remains.
"The hospital regrets that any communication lapses on its part might have added to the Williamses grief, but any suggestion that the hospital might have intentionally mishandled fetal remains is unfounded,” Schwartzman said.
After contacting Williams, The Patriot Ledger was unable to reach Schwartzman for comment on the notes from the DPH investigator.
Williams said she has not seen the hospital's plan, but that she has received documents from the DPH in response to public information requests she has made.
Among them were notes she read for the first time yesterday.
"...I will take the child." - Mother Teresa
See! I will not forget you... I have carved you on the palm of My hand... I have called you by your name... You are mine... You are precious to Me... I love you.
Isaiah
This candle burns in loving memory of Baby Teresa.
Life can be the same when a trinket is lost, but never after the loss of a treasure.
"Paul Irion"But lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Matthew 6:20-21
You're listening to " Tears In Heaven."
By Eric Clapton
