Body mix-up at Stanley hospital in Chennai, inquiry under way

CHENNAI: A mix-up of the bodies of two teenage girls at the Government Stanley Medical College and Hospital led to the police intercepting a funeral procession and retrieving the body that was mistakenly handed over to the wrong family, narrowly preventing its cremation. The incident has triggered an official scrutiny to identify procedural lapses.

The bodies of Anushka (19), from Padambakkam near Kavarapettai in Tiruvallur and Priyadharshini (18) of Manali, who allegedly died by suicide in separate incidents, were brought to Stanley Hospital for post-mortem examination on Sunday.

Anushka had allegedly attempted suicide due to a family dispute and had succumbed during treatment on Saturday night. Priyadharshini had also died by suicide the same day. After the post-mortem, Anushka’s body was inadvertently released to Priyadharshini’s family, while Anushka’s relatives, who arrived to claim her remains, found that her body was missing from the mortuary.

By the time the error surfaced, Anushka’s body had reached Priyadharshini’s residence and funeral rituals had begun. Alerted about the mix-up, the police rushed towards the crematorium and stopped the funeral vehicle mid-way and brought Anushka’s body back to the hospital.

After a fresh verification and both bodies correctly identified, they were handed over to their respective families. Hospital authorities said preliminary findings indicate that the mix-up occurred during identification. According to officials, both bodies were in a decomposed state, the girls were of a similar age and build and were dressed in similar attire of the same colour.

“A preliminary probe found that the father of one of the girls wrongly identified the body, setting off the series of complications. Further investigation is underway,” dean of the hospital Dr A Aravind told DT Next.

Under the standard protocol followed in government hospitals, medico-legal bodies are released only after the completion of police inquest, post-mortem examination, verification of identity through body tags and hospital records, and acknowledgement by authorised relatives before custody is handed over.

The inquiry will examine whether these safeguards were followed, identify any procedural lapses and fix accountability, he said. The incident has again raised concerns over mortuary management and adherence to identification protocols in busy government hospitals, where hundreds of medico-legal post-mortem examinations are conducted every month.

PAST ON REPEAT

A similar mix-up was reported at the Tiruvallur Government Hospital last year

Rajendran, a resident of Bujjireddypalli near Tiruttani, died after allegedly consuming pesticide, while Manoj Manjhi from Bihar succumbed to an illness

Rajendran’s remains were mistakenly handed over to Manoj’s family

After the error was detected, the bodies were traced, exchanged and handed over to their respective families