A hospital is being sued for “losing” the ashes of a stillborn baby that were then used “as a paperweight.”
Detroit couple Erika and Christopher Hinson were told by the Ascension St. John hospital that they could not make arrangements for their baby, Ellis, until the remains were returned.
Ellis’s ashes were then discovered in the Cantrell Funeral Home in a “Tupperware-like container” being used a paperweight.
Detroit Free Press reports that these remains weren’t the only ones being mishandled by funeral homes in the surrounding area.
The Hinson’s lawyer, Bill Colovos, called the case “disturbing.”
“It’s just really, really – they’re all sad – but this one especially is just disturbing, and I don’t use that word lightly,” he said.
The lawsuit reads that the hospital refused to return baby Ellis’s ashes to the Hinsons. Erika contacted the hospital repeatedly, saying that staff “made excuses” until the ashes were eventually discovered in the funeral home.
Due to the couple’s low income, the funeral home had agreed to keep the baby’s remains until the Hinsons could afford a burial.
The couple said they were never told that they could apply for state aid for a funeral or that failing to dispose of the remains was illegal.
The Ascension St. John hospital has yet to respond to the lawsuit.
