On February 2 Ahmed Musa, and his wife Hana Mohammed Dharhad, filed a lawsuit against Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, and Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare Systems, for negligence and severe emotional distress in the handling of their stillborn child, as reported in The Californian.
The couple, practicing Muslims, waited five weeks for the correct stillborn child to be returned to them from a morgue in the Salinas Hospital. Muslim belief holds that a body is buried as soon as possible after death so that the deceased may meet their creator.
Returning the body back to earth allows the deceased to begin their afterlife.
Iman Tahir Anwar, of the South Bay Islamic Association said, “It's very, very important for us to ensure this child be washed and buried as soon as possible. It's definitely a violation as far as our beliefs [if this process is not followed].”
The board of Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital rejected the couple’s claim – after already mixing up their stillborn child with another family’s child – as they had returned the correct body to them five weeks later.
It was also five weeks after they had buried wrong stillborn child.
Anne Marie Murphy, the Mesa family attorney, said that the hospital readily admitted their fault for the mix-up, but had offered no reason as to how it had happened. Murphy said, “It's just a series of things that happened — all of which reflect a high degree of negligence of the hospital.
The Musa's want to bring the issues to light and to hopefully make sure this type of situation does not happen to another family.”
The Musa’s baby, a little girl called “Baby Musa” in the case, died on September 2 during her mother’s 5th month of pregnancy.
On September 3 a baby was released to them from the hospital, and keeping with their religious beliefs of a ceremonial washing, religious rites and prayers, was prepared for its immediate burial.
Per Islamic beliefs, the burial must occur between one to three days after death – just about the amount of time it takes in the West to receive the appropriate certificates.
“Baby Musa” was buried at the Five Pillars Farm Islamic Cemetery in Livermore.
Per Anwar, Islamic belief holds that the soul enters the fetus at 120 days.
Then, on October 8, the Musa’s received the disturbing news from the hospital: “We’re pretty sure” that a mix up might have occurred. Another mother had also delivered a stillborn child on September 2, so the Musa’s were asked to come back to the hospital for a genetic test to figure out what had happened.
What had happened was that the hospital had discovered another baby in their morgue – with the Musa name.
The lawsuit states, “Instead of moving on with their lives following the sadness of losing their first child, the Musa’s faced the grim prospects of dealing with the mishandling of their baby's remains by the hospital.”
By October 22 the administrators of the hospital told the Musa’s that the child they had already buried was not theirs.
This was not destined to be the end of their turmoil. The hospital had not taken any particular steps with the child that had been left behind in their morgue for all of the weeks that had already passed.
The lawsuit contended, “Apparently during the time that Baby Musa's remains remained at SVMH misidentified, the Hospital had not taken proper steps to handle the body. The condition of the body of Baby Musa was beyond horrifying. It contained mold and had undergone decomposition. It was in this condition that Baby Musa was wrapped in a blanket for Ahmed Musa to pick up at SVMH for religious rights and burial. Upon information and belief, SVMH had not placed the body in any sort of protective solution for a number of weeks and this led to the molding and decomposition.”
The suit also alleges that the hospital had violated a California Health and Safety code: A permit must be obtained if a body due for disposition is kept for more than eight days following a death.
Damages are unspecified in the suit.
If you, or someone you hold dear, has been harmed by the actions of hospital personnel, contact a medical malpractice attorney from our directory to help you with your case. You may be due monetary compensation for your pain and suffering.