JACKSON - A stillborn baby discovered last week in the campus laundry at the University Medical Center was put there by accident, officials said Wednesday.
Dr. Jim Keeton, the associate vice chancellor for Clinical Affairs at UMC, said after the parents requested the hospital dispose of the remains, the body was wrapped in a blanket and placed in a holding room to be later taken to pathology.
"It was inadvertently picked up, put in the hamper and taken to laundry." he said.
Keeton said the family was told about the accident and they handled it "extremely well."
"They understood the situation and were told in a very professional and honest way," he said.
UMC officials said the family requested not to be identified.
"This is a very unfortunate accident, we are in the process of looking at ways to prevent this in the future," Keeton said.
Keeton said officials are considering tagging the blankets.
The hospital delivers about 4,000 babies a year and some are stillborn.
"During the time period of this infant, there were six stillborns," Keeton said.
Keeton said there was another stillborn delivered the same day and time as the other infant and both were placed in separate holding rooms.
He said the infant discovered in the laundry was placed in a room it wouldn't have normally been in because the other infant had been placed in the original holding room.
"The infants are normally put into a container and transferred to pathology, but we have found lots of families want to come back to view the remains, so we started wrapping them in a blanket instead putting them in a container," Keeton said.
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