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| A pencil drawing of stillborn twins |
The review into Emstrey Crematorium in Shrewsbury began after the BBC found the ashes of only one baby out of 30 had been given to families since 2004.
When someone is cremated, what remains (usually called cremains) isn't ashes but pulverised bone. Everything else is vaporised in the intense heat of the furnace. The bones are raked out and put into a machine that grinds them up after any spare parts, such as metal screws and plates, are sorted out. The cremains can then be scattered or buried, or (in some cases) kept on your mantelpiece.
Small babies, whose bones haven't fully developed, don't leave anything to be pulverised after cremation. If there is anything left, it's dust. It's not an easy thing to explain to parents mourning the loss of a baby, even if most people weren't so squeamish, so maybe it's not always done well, if at all.
Sadly, the distress that a bereaved parent will naturally feel can become focussed on the lack of a grave or any tangible evidence that their baby existed. One mother is quoted as saying,
"It's just I have got nothing. I need to go where he is because my life isn't complete until I know where he is."
When I miscarried at 18 weeks, a long time ago, I briefly fretted that my baby's tiny body had been pickled in a jar. I was told that wasn't true, and that he'd been "respectfully" disposed of. What almost certainly happened was that the body had gone into the hospital incinerator. A funeral director I know told me that they are sometimes contacted by bereaved parents decades after they lost their baby, asking where he or she is buried. It's only fairly recently that babies have been given individual graves, so it's not possible to tell them.
The Shrewsbury parents seem to have good reason to complain that they weren't properly informed, but what they need now isn't a box of ashes, which is impossible, but help to come to terms with what's happened.
The drawing (above) was my gift to the young parents of stillborn twins. It was copied from a photograph that was unsuitable for framing. I hope that the Shrewsbury parents have photographs, if nothing else.
Click here to read what SANDS (Stillbirth & neonatal death charity) says about cremation.
Update: 5/6/2015
The story rumbles on in today's Guardian. Parents accuse the crematorium staff of not telling the truth. It sounds more like a breakdown in communication and old cremators.
In my experience, funeral directors and crematorium staff aren't unaffected by a baby's funeral. They are keenly aware of the parents' feelings, especially as most will have children themselves.
It seems to me that the buck stops with the funeral directors' funeral arrangers, who are responsible for making all the arrangements. They should know what is or isn't possible, and advise the families accordingly.
The moral is, if you want remains after the disposal of a small infant, don't cremate them, bury them.
Shropshire Council commissioned a report into what had happened. Click here to read it.
A similar babies' ashes story has been told in Scotland - click here to read about it.
Click here to read what SANDS (Stillbirth & neonatal death charity) says about cremation.
Update: 5/6/2015
The story rumbles on in today's Guardian. Parents accuse the crematorium staff of not telling the truth. It sounds more like a breakdown in communication and old cremators.
... by 2009 ... furnaces at Emstrey were decrepit. “The computer control system was archaic,” Jenkins said. “The system ran on obsolete floppy discs and staff had to recycle old computers to keep the system running.”What's meant by "some infant remains"? Burnt tissue? Is that really what you'd want to keep? I wonder if the parents have really considered what this means. Burning a cremator at a lower temperature has been described as "gentle" cremation, a euphemism meant to make the process sound pleasant.
The report noted the cremators had no infant setting and staff did not realise they could override presets. Lower temperatures would have made it more likely that some infant remains could have been recovered. But Jenkins said environmental regulations may have banned that and other practises, such as cremating young children, at the start or end of the day.
In my experience, funeral directors and crematorium staff aren't unaffected by a baby's funeral. They are keenly aware of the parents' feelings, especially as most will have children themselves.
It seems to me that the buck stops with the funeral directors' funeral arrangers, who are responsible for making all the arrangements. They should know what is or isn't possible, and advise the families accordingly.
The moral is, if you want remains after the disposal of a small infant, don't cremate them, bury them.
Shropshire Council commissioned a report into what had happened. Click here to read it.
A similar babies' ashes story has been told in Scotland - click here to read about it.
1 comment:
The Scottish Govt report post-Mortonhall (2014) concluded: "It has been demonstrated in Section 8.1 that foetal remains of 16 weeks gestation and older can and do survive complete combustion. It is also apparent from the literature and examination of the images from Seafield and Warriston Crematoria that individual bones are identifiable to skeletal element from this age. If that is the case then other explanations must be sought for the apparent absence of ashes in individuals aged > 16 weeks. It seems that there are only three possible explanations:
1. The ashes have not survived the cremation process due to the way in which they were
cremated
2. The ashes have survived cremation but they have been destroyed during the recovery
process
3. The ashes have survived the cremation and recovery processes but they have not been
recognised as human foetal or infant remains." http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0045/00453055.pdf P 122
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