A religious Connecticut mom who "trusted" a New Jersey hospital to take care of her stillborn son's remains is accusing the facility of losing her baby's body in the morgue and performing an unauthorized autopsy against her wishes after he was found, court documents say.
Attorneys for Lauren Kosdon, of Stamford, Connecticut, filed the civil suit against Hackensack University Medical Center, a registered nurse, and several unnamed employees and contractors in Hackensack, New Jersey in August, alleging they committed two counts of negligence, and one count each of negligent infliction of emotional distress and intentional infliction of emotional distress, according to the filing reviewed by the Lawyer Herald.
Kosdon was admitted to the hospital for the induced labor of her stillborn son on Sept. 28, 2022. She and her doctors were aware her baby would not be born alive due to a congenital disorder.
"Due to the closely held Jewish beliefs of her and her husband, as well as the fact that she was acutely aware of the previously diagnosed congenital disorder, she declined to have an autopsy performed on the infant," signing a "consent/refusal for autopsy" form, the documents read.
By signing the paper, Kosdon "trusted and had reason to believe that her infant son's remains would be treated with dignity and in accordance with her wishes," the filing alleges.
In July 2023, she "learned, by happenstance, that an autopsy of her infant son had been performed contrary to her wishes and without her consent. Further investigation revealed that her infant son's remains had been lost in storage by the Defendant, HACKENSACK UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER, until February 2023, at which time an autopsy was precipitated by the actions of a presently unknown Nurse Manager," according to the documents.
Due to the size of Kosdon's baby, he was not disposed of within the standard four weeks and instead "misplaced in a morgue refrigeration unit which stores cadavers," the filing alleges.
"HMH regrets the Kosdon family's tremendous loss," the hospital said in a statement to Law & Crime, in response to the suit. "We are committed to high quality, compassionate healthcare, and when a patient and family suffers a loss, all of us share in their grief. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Kosdon family."
