‘Lost in storage’: Woman says hospital misplaced stillborn son’s remains and did an unauthorized autopsy

Cars pass the Hackensack University Medical Center, Wednesday, June 1, 2016, in Hackensack, N.J. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

A New Jersey hospital is facing a federal lawsuit filed by a Connecticut woman who says it misplaced her stillborn son’s remains and then performed an unauthorized autopsy that violated both her religious beliefs and her specific instructions.

34-year-old Lauren Kodson said she was admitted to Hackensack University Medical Center on Sept. 28, 2022, to be induced for labor. Kodson said she and her doctors were aware that the child, a boy, would be stillborn due to a diagnosed congenital disorder. Kodson further said that due to Jewish beliefs that were closely held by both her and her husband, she declined to have an autopsy performed on the child and “made this choice clear” to the hospital.

The complaint explained that a nurse presented Kodson with a preprinted “Consent/Refusal for Autopsy” form, that Kodson declined the autopsy, and that the nurse told her the infant’s remains would be disposed of within four weeks of the delivery.

More from Law&Crime: ‘You can only imagine the shock and disgust’: Grieving mother was given birthing blanket with stillborn child’s remains instead of cremated ashes, lawsuit says

Kodson said she signed a consent form that permitted the hospital to do an “examination” of the infant’s remains, which was “a process completely separate and distinct from an autopsy.”