At the mortuary I worked at we gave free funerals for children under 2. Because of that, we had a high number of infant deaths that were called into us. There is no words to describe the sadness that eats through you when you go into a hospital and wrap up a little baby and carry their lifeless body out. Babies were my worst enemy. Even worse was when we had a coroner's call that was an infant death. One of my most memorable pick-ups was for a 1 1/2 yr old...
I had gone to the coroner's office to pick up the cases that they had ready for us to take back to the mortuary after their investigations were complete. As I was loading up the first two cases the girl working there brought out this little boy on a large autopsy table. A little figure was barely visible under the white sheet covering his lifeless body. When the coroners office worker pulled the sheet back so we could check his identification there laid this little boy. Just over a year old and the little boy was still in diapers. That was the only thing protecting him. The rest of his body was blistered, red, charred in other places and his hair had been singed off. While having a party in their yard, this innocent little boy had fallen into a fire pit. Why would this little of a child be left alone to get that close to fire? How long did he lay in the pit to get that burned? Why was it that the only body part not burned was where his sopping wet diaper protected him from the flames? This was child neglect. There is no reason for such cruelty in the world. I gingerly wrapped his frail body in a sheet and plastic, transferred him to my gurney and loaded him up to go back to the mortuary.
No comments:
Post a Comment