The body of a stillborn baby was found wrapped in linens after the remains were accidentally shipped to an out-of-hospital laundry site, ABC News reported Wednesday.
According to the report, the body of the deceased infant was found by a laundry service employee. The baby was wearing a diaper and had a tag on its ankle as KARE 11-TV in Minneapolis reports.
Regions Hospital in Minnesota is apologizing for the terrible mishap, and a hospital spokesperson said that Regions is still in the process of notifying the family about the mistake. Counseling has also been offered to those employees involved through the linen service.
"We have processes in place that should have prevented this but did not," Regions Hospital chief nursing officer Chris Boese said in a statement. "This was a terrible mistake, and we are deeply sorry."
Crothall Laundry, the service where the incident occurred, discovered the body after it rolled out of a bed sheet. Following an immediate phone call to the hospital, Regions Hospital workers came to retrieve the body.
One of the largest hospitals in Minnesota, Chris Boese tells ABC News that Regions Hospital handles well over 2,000 births each year and anywhere from 20 to 25 of the infants are stillborn.
Boese also noted that it was a severely emotional situation for everyone involved with this terrible mishap.
"That's our No. 1 concern, our patients, our families. We're deeply troubled," Boese said.
Families of infants who are born stillborn are given the choice of working with the hospital to set up burial or cremation arrangements or the family can simply make their own plans. Boese was unable to disclose what the family of the recent stillborn had elected to do due to privacy laws.
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