Mater Dei Confirms It Is Not Responsible For The Bodies Of Road Victims Who Are Dead On Arrival
Mater Dei Hospital has clarified the procedure for the clothing and shrouding of people who are killed outside of hospital after the parents of a girl who died in a horrific road accident found out their daughter had been buried in a plastic bag placed within her coffin.
In the wake of the revelations, both Mater Dei Hospital and the funeral director in charge of the burial have shrugged of responsibility for the decision to bury her. The funeral director told the Times of Malta last week that she “never touches the bodies” of the deceased.
Now, Mater Dei has insisted it was actually the responsibility of the funeral director commissioned by the family.
“In cases of deaths outside the hospital, the funeral director takes the lead to make all arrangements in line with mortuary policies, and, in most cases, is the only link between the mortuary and the family of the deceased,” a Mater Dei spokeswoman told Lovin Malta.
“Mater Dei Hospital is responsible for the preparation (clothing/shrouding) of deceased inpatients. In cases of deaths that occur outside the hospital, the responsibility to coordinate clothing/shrouding and any other requests the family might have (embalming/make up etc) is of the family-appointed funeral director,” she continued.
The health official noted that there can be different procedures for burial under certain circumstances – but the body is always buried in a casket
“There are different procedures in handling cadavers before burial, some of these have religious, traditional cultural or ethical requirements. In some cases different procedures are used due to health and safety issues. There are specific cases where, for a variety of reasons, the mortuary staff are advised to intern the remains in a body bag. In all cases the body is still buried in a burial casket,” she said.
The spokesperson confirmed that an internal review of the case of Ms Johanna Boni and her controversial burial had taken place, however said that any subsequent investigation was out of their remit.
“Regarding the case of Ms Boni, this was a forensic case, which lies outside the remit of Mater Dei and/or the Ministry for Health. A review of this case was already held internally by hospital authorities. The findings confirm what was stated publicly by the office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the CEO of Mater Dei Hospital,” she said.
Pictured above: Johanni Boni and her parents
Johanna Boni, a 27-year-old biker, was tragically killed by a truck while approaching a Mosta roundabout three years ago
Her parents had initially been told that she had been buried in a red dress in her coffin, and advised the parents not to look inside the coffin.
Three years later while attending the funeral of Johanna Boni’s grandfather at the same Mosta cemetery, they discovered that their daughter had not been buried as they had been told, but had been buried in a plastic bag with her red dress in a corner of the coffin.
“I cannot even describe how disgusted I was at seeing my daughter in a plastic bag,” Josephine Boni, her mother, had told the Times of Malta. “You wouldn’t even treat an animal like that. And the clothes I had given them to dress her in were stuffed in a corner of the coffin. My husband and I cannot sleep at night. We keep seeing that horrible sight over and over again.”
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