body,td,th { font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; }
Tonight, there is still no clarity on how two babies got mixed up at the KHMH - even as two families are grappling with the grief of the mix up. As we told you last night, Jenkins' Funeral Home went to pick up baby Aaron Allen from the morgue yesterday, only to be told that Coye's Funeral Home had already picked up and cremated the body.
For Baby Allen's mother, it was a devastating blow - not only did she lose her newborn baby, but now she didn't even have the chance to bury him. And she told us yesterday that she'd already contracted a lawyer and plans to sue the hospital.
But at this point, KHMH isn't admitting fault just yet. Though they are the ones who have to retrieve the body from the morgue to give to the funeral home, it is the funeral home which is supposed to verify that they have the right body. So did the hospital bring out the wrong baby Aaron, since both newborns had the same first name?
Well, according to the Allen family, the hospital is claiming that Coye's Funeral Home brought the Allen death certificate, which is the only way they would be able to get the baby's body. The family told us that that could not be true, however, since they only gave the certificate to Jenkins Funeral Home. Coye has also confirmed that they at no point had possession of Baby Allen's death certificate.
But KHMH also claims that they have the Allen death certificate, which suggests that they only could have gotten it from Coye since Jenkins never received a body.
The situation is still tangled in uncertainty, with all sides pointing fingers and no clear place to lay the blame.
And today, the hospital's management put out a very brief statement which said, quote, "The KHMHA continues to prioritize this matter and is working with all relevant parties to take the necessary remedial actions." End quote.
For now, both the hospital and the funeral homes are refraining from giving interviews. We will keep following this story.
