Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
A shocking investigation by a UK broadcast network has found that thousands of aborted and miscarried babies were burned as clinical waste or used in “waste-to-energy” plants which generate power for heat.
According to The Telegraph, the investigation was conducted by Channel 4 Dispatches and found that at least 15,500 fetal remains were incinerated by 27 National Health Service (NHS) trusts (hospitals). Ten of the facilities admitted to burning fetal remains from abortions and miscarriages alongside other trash, while two others said they used the bodies to heat buildings.
Investigators also discovered that parents who lose children in early pregnancy are often treated coldly and were not consulted about what they wanted done with the remains of their children. In some cases, such as in one of the country’s leading hospitals, Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge, 797 babies who were below 13 weeks gestation were used in an energy plant while their mothers were told they had been “cremated.”
“This practice is totally unacceptable,” said Dr. Dan Poulter, health minister with the UK’s Department of Health. “While the vast majority of hospitals are acting in the appropriate way, that must be the case for all hospitals and the Human Tissue Authority has now been asked to ensure that it acts on this issue without delay.”
Prof. Sir Mike Richards, Chief Inspector of Hospitals, was equally appalled by the report.
“I am disappointed trusts may not be informing or consulting women and their families,” Prof. Richards said. “This breaches our standard on respecting and involving people who use services and I’m keen for Dispatches to share their evidence with us. We scrutinize information of concern and can inspect unannounced, if required.”
It’s one thing to put a stop to these heartless practices, but what about digging deeper to find out why employees of the NHS think so little of human life that they would throw a baby’s body into an incinerator and use it for fuel? Do we really want people with this kind of callous disregard for human life working in health care, of all places?
I guess this is what happens when a country nationalizes medicine, taking it from an profession of individuals devoted to caring for their fellow human beings to a depersonalized industry more concerned with fuel costs than even the most basic respect for human life.
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