The family of a stillborn baby who was discarded in a Minnesota hospital’s dirty laundry in 2013 is now suing the medical center.
Esmeralda Hernandez, the mother of the child, filed a lawsuit against Regions Hospital in St Paul last week, along with some of her other family members.
The lawsuit, which is seeking unspecified damages ‘far in excess of $50,000’ for the family’s ongoing pain, accuses Regions of reckless interference with a dead body.
Hernandez gave birth to a premature, stillborn son named Jose back in April 2013.
Esmeralda Hernandez, the mother of the child, filed a lawsuit against Regions Hospital (above) in St Paul last week, along with some of her other family members
While she declined an autopsy, the grieving mother accepted the hospital’s offer of a dignified cremation.
However, the baby’s body turned up at a commercial laundry two weeks later.
The baby’s body fell out of a bed sheet that was inside a laundry bag. He still had his identification tag on and was also still wearing a diaper.
The lawsuit states that laundry workers ‘gawked at Baby Jose, took photos of him, and sent pictures into cyberspace’.
Chris Boese, chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota, apologized at a 2013 press conference (above)
The Hernandez family said that once news of the body being found reached the media, they prayed it was not Jose, according to the suit.
The hospital issued a statement to the St. Paul Pioneer Press on Monday reaffirming its apology.
‘We want to say again that we are truly sorry for our mistake,’ a spokesperson said.
‘We immediately reached out to the family in 2013 to apologize and to try and help ease their loss. We have continued to work with their lawyer – always open to a reasonable resolution.