Scandalous error in hospital morgue: Bodies mixed up, wrong body buried! 'We cannot find our own relative'

81-year-old Yusuf Kırlangıç, who lived in the Antakya district of Hatay, passed away following a heart attack. Kırlangıç's body was taken to the Mustafa Kemal University Training and Research Hospital morgue. When the family arrived at the morgue at noon to collect the body, they were given the wrong body by the staff.

When his relatives opened the body bag to say their final goodbyes, they realized that instead of Yusuf Kırlangıç, there was another person's body inside. Upon reporting the situation to the authorities, an investigation revealed that the body handed to them belonged to I.Ü., who lived in the Erzin district. The investigation further determined that the family in Erzin had also received Yusuf Kırlangıç's body, believing it to be their own relative, and had already buried it.

The Kırlangıç family, deeply saddened by the mix-up, demanded that their relative's body be returned to them as soon as possible and stated that they would file a complaint against the hospital.

"SUCH A MISTAKE IS UNACCEPTABLE"

Explaining that they were given the wrong body, Mahmut Kırlangıç said, "We were going to bury our relative at 4 p.m. this afternoon. We came to the Mustafa Kemal University Training and Research Hospital morgue to collect our relative. Our relative was taken to the Erzin district and buried. Such a mistake is unacceptable. It was in the hospital morgue. We did not communicate with the other family. This happened to us and we are very sad. When we looked at the body for the last time, my brother's teeth were pearly white, but the man in the body bag we received had no teeth. Wouldn't a human being recognize their own relative by their face or hair? The man had no teeth in his mouth, while our brother's teeth were pearly white. They even switched the death certificates," he said.

"OUR PAIN HAS DOUBLED"

Stating that the incident has further increased their pain, Servet Kırlangıç said, "I am Yusuf Kırlangıç's son. When we went down to the hospital morgue and opened the body bag, it was not my father. After realizing it wasn't my father, we looked at the writing on the body bag and saw someone else's name. My father's name was Yusuf Kırlangıç. The staff did not follow the procedures; they handed the body to the family without comparing it with the death report while mixing them up. We are filing a complaint against the hospital and the family who took our relative's body. My father's body went to the Erzin district. Let them resolve this incident as soon as possible; we have been greatly aggrieved and our pain has doubled. We want whoever is at fault in this incident to be punished. We want whoever is responsible to be held accountable in court," he said.

"WE DO NOT ACCEPT THIS MISTAKE"

Emine Kaplar also reacted to the mix-up, saying, "My uncle Yusuf Kırlangıç passed away last night and we took him to the morgue. When we came in the morning, they had switched our relative. We have been aggrieved. We want my uncle's body; our pain has doubled. We do not accept this mistake. They need to resolve this incident immediately. My uncle's body was at the Mustafa Kemal University Training and Research Hospital. The other party did not look when they were taking the body. We are curious about that too. Wouldn't a person recognize their relative? The name was written on the body bag; they could have looked at that. We are filing a complaint against the hospital and the family," she said.

"WE CANNOT FIND OUR OWN RELATIVE RIGHT NOW"

Sönmez Olgar, who stated that burial preparations were completed but they had to wait for their relative due to the mix-up, said, "We live in the Serinyol neighborhood of Antakya. My uncle Yusuf Kırlangıç passed away last night. After his passing, we came here to the Mustafa Kemal University Training and Research Hospital for the burial process. The body present was not ours.

Our relative was taken to Erzin at 9 a.m. and buried there, but we don't even know how they buried him. We wonder how they took the body and buried my uncle there without identifying their own relative. As a hospital, they couldn't even follow their own procedures properly. The hospital staff is here; you are receiving and handing over the body. When 'Yusuf Kırlangıç' is written on the body bag, you hand it over without comparing it with the other party. There is no similarity with the name of the body the other party received. How can you not identify your own relative? The name was already written on it anyway.

Despite that, they took it and buried our relative there. We have been waiting for our relative for about five hours. They haven't given us any information or anything. We are waiting for the prosecutor's decision. We are victims. As the people of Serinyol, we were going to bury our relative at 4 o'clock. Everyone is like this; our pain was already one, now it has doubled. We are in so much pain that we cannot find our own relative right now," he said.

News Source: İHA