Photo Offer Of Stillborn Son Sent To Mom (WTF???)

[The Straight Story]

Photo Offer Of Stillborn Son Sent To Mom

POSTED: 5:38 pm EDT May 10, 2006
UPDATED: 7:12 pm EDT May 10, 2006

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- A company's apparent coding error mistakenly sent a Central Florida mother a solicitation to buy a photograph of her stillborn son, according to a Problem Solvers investigation.

...

Later, Hall received a letter from a Pennsylvania company called Cherished Memories. She said the company tried to sell her a photo of Dylan.

"What they're doing is wrong. What they're doing is sick," Martin-Hall said. "I asked them how they had a picture of my son when he had been stillborn?"

Local 6 News discovered that hospitals routinely photograph newborn and stillborn children.

http://www.local6.com/money/9193878/detail.html

Freakin nuts.

[KyndCulture]

1. GASP... omfg.

[Kutjara]

2. That's just fucking delightful.

What some bastards won't stoop to in the headlong pursuit of the almighty Dollar.

[The Straight Story]

4. One reply she got:

"There are some who believe having a picture of a stillborn child is a good thing." It's therapeutic," Pipitone asked Martin-Hall. "(Is it) for you?"

I just dunno...If you want one, request it.

[Cooley Hurd]

9. self-delete

[Arkansas Granny]

13. Maybe it would be therapeutic for some, but I don't think it would

be for all. I lost a baby just a few hours after birth. To my knowledge, no pictures were taken, nor would I want to see them if they had been. In my mind, I see a whole, perfect baby, not a body. But, that's me. To each, his/her own.

[MercutioATC]

15. Who was that candidate a year or so ago who brought the dead baby home?

Something about having the wife and kids hold the baby to give them "closure".

[Greeby]

3. Pennsylvania? Fixation with stillborns?

Ring a bell?

[SharonAnn]

16. Yes, Santorum!!! Senator Rick Santorum!!!

[cally]

5. I've known parents of stillborn babies who wanted pictures

and greatly value them to remember their child. It's atrocious that pictures were taken and sent without their consent.

[LA lady]

6. sad

I agree it was handled badly but I wish I had a picture of mine.

[TheCrankyOne]

8. I agree!

[niyad]

11. welcome to DU-- but would you want some commercial company to

HAVE that pic and apparently be selling it without your knowledge or consent?

[niyad]

7. what the HELL is the hospital doing selling these pics to ANYONE?

and how dare they not tell the parents they are doing this?? sue the hospital and the photo company.

[azurnoir]

10. Yes hospitals do photograph stillborn babies

but to send them out without written permission from the parents is illegal. there are strict laws governing this http://www.hipaa.org/
















link problems

[anitar1]

12. She should sue the hospital before the Bushit laws prevent it.n/t

[KyndCulture]

14. ok but it's obvious from this Mother's statements...

she didn't invite this and it really really upset her.

She creamated her son and kept his gown. Now she's been confronted with something that no mother should ever be asked to do... look at a photograph of a dead child.

I hope she sues them out of existence.

[mnhtnbb]

17. I had a stillborn daughter 17 years ago and I have

a Polaroid photo of her that the nurses took. Hawking photos from
a company that routinely photographs newborns is not a good idea.

I don't see anything wrong with hospital staff, at the time, letting the mother decide if she wants a photo. Some parents don't even want to hold their stillborn children. My husband didn't even want to see her--and I've never understood that. And he's a psychiatrist.