Dead patient's brain found inside the wrong corpse after post-mortem blunder

The brain of one dead person was accidentally left inside the abdominal cavity of another corpse after a coroner’s blunder.

The mistake happened during a post-mortem examination and was one of scores of errors which included two brains being accidentally swapped and bodies being given to the wrong families.

A BBC investigation found that the mistake was one of 278 blunders over three years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

On 13 occasions, organs were left in hospitals after the body had been released to the family of the deceased.

And there were 36 incidents where the wrong body being released to loved ones.

One family were informed that their relative’s brain had been accidentally stored at the hospital against his wishes. They did not find out until 22 years after his death.

The Freedom of Information request was submitted to the Human Tissue Authority (HTA), which defines a serious incident as "human errors or system failures that lead to damage to bodies or misplaced bodies or body parts".

They occurred during post mortem examinations when organs are removed from the body for examination and then placed back in to release the body for a funeral.

Chris Birkett, director of regulation for the HTA, told the BBC: "Incidents such as these are distressing for the families of those involved and, although they are rare, should never happen.

"If an incident does happen, we work with the establishment to ensure that a thorough investigation is undertaken, that lessons are learned, and that improvements are made to mitigate the risks of similar incidents happening again."

The Evening Standard has contacted the HTA for comment.