There were no available refrigerators, the hospital justified
The body of an 80-year-old man was reportedly left decomposing on a stretcher for two days at the morgue of Portimão Hospital.
The shocking story has been shared by national tabloid newspaper Correio da Manhã and Portuguese channel CNN Portugal, which report that the man died at the hospital in the early hours of Saturday morning of a long-term illness.
According to CNN Portugal, his family was informed of his death by telephone and advised to contact a funeral agency to collect the body on Monday. What followed was a second moment of shock when the family was informed by the funeral agency that the body had been “left out” of the mortuary refrigators all weekend long and was in no fit state for an open casket funeral. The hospital’s response to the family was that “there were no available refrigerators” that weekend but that the body was left in the morgue “with the air conditioning on”.
The man’s family is said to be “outraged,” reports CNN Portugal, and is calling for the hospital to make sure this never happens again, although there are no plans to move forward with any kind of legal action, the channel adds.
michael.bruxo@portugalresident.com
