A woman has been paid damages by an NHS trust after developing post-traumatic stress disorder when a mortuary allowed her son’s body to decompose to such an extent that relatives were advised not to view it, the Guardian can reveal.
Cameron Whelan, 26, died after he entered the River Avon in Stratford-upon-Avon while being pursued by a police officer.
An inquest into his death heard that the officer approached Cameron believing he was the perpetrator of an assault in the town centre, and Cameron ran off. His body was recovered from the river four days later, on 29 May 2018.
Five months passed before the family were able to bury Cameron, by which time his body had severely decomposed because mortuary staff at the Coventry mortuary, run by the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, had not frozen him.
Cameron’s body was in such a poor state that the family, who had been advised not to view him, could smell the decaying corpse during the funeral procession on 9 November 2018.
The NHS trust has apologised and paid damages to Cameron’s mother, Deborah Whelan, and brothers, Dadlin and Patrick Whelan, in an out-of-court settlement. Deborah, Dadlin and Patrick were all diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Speaking to the Guardian, Deborah said: “It’s been horrific. It’s been absolutely horrendous. I didn’t know these types of things could happen. When I found out, I thought to myself: how can somebody just watch a body deteriorate the way they have been week after week?
“The image I was having in my head was unbelievable, it really was. It only added to the trauma of his death as it was. It was an unnatural death and now an unnatural way in which the body had been held.”
She said her son, who had taken a horticultural course in the hope of opening his own landscape gardening business, was known as the “smiler” because of his positive disposition.
His body was transferred to the Coventry mortuary on 31 May 2018 and a postmortem gave a provisional cause of death as immersion consistent with drowning, court documents seen by the Guardian show.
Whelan’s body was placed in a body fridge where it was held at a temperature of between 2C and 8C until 25 October 2018, when it was released to funeral directors.
Paperwork showed that mortuary staff had recorded that Whelan’s body was “decomposed – not viewable” as early as July and repeated this observation on a weekly basis until late September, when the condition was noted as “severely decomposed”.
It was not until October that Whelan’s family learned that the body was in an “advanced decomposition”. The family were warned against viewing the body as “this may cause further distress”.
In late October 2018, the body was released to the funeral directors, who informed Deborah that the body was “unidentifiable”. The only proof of identification was the name tag on the body.
In November, the family attended the funeral directors. Whelan’s brother Dadlin wanted to see Cameron’s body for closure but the funeral director’s strongly advised against him doing so.
The funeral director offered to show Dadlin some pictures of the body, to which he agreed. Court documents describe the images as “horrific”.
On 9 November 2018, Cameron was finally buried. Court documents said the odour from the decomposed body in the coffin was so potent that it was noticed during the funeral procession.
“I just cannot comprehend in my head that another human being, when they put these issues down to human error, that another human being can report looking at another human body, week after week after week, without doing anything about it,” Deborah said.
“I’m actually now at the point where I wonder to myself: did I actually bury my son? Am I going to be years from now, somebody turn round and say a piece of him is in the hospital, or his whole body is there? That’s honestly how I feel.”
The PTSD suffered by the family members has manifested in anxiety, depression and intrusive images of Cameron’s body.
Cameron’s mother would like to see a formal inquiry as there have been a number of similar cases, including those of Paul Murray, a firefighter, and Emily Whelan, who is of no relation to Cameron’s family.
Matthew Gold, of Gold Jennings, who represented Deborah and her two sons in the legal claim, said: “The family expected University Hospital Coventry to show Cameron’s body dignity and respect after he drowned in the River Avon on the 25 May 2018. Instead, its failure to freeze Cameron meant he horribly decomposed and could not be viewed in breach of the Human Rights Act.
“Despite the gross injustice, the trust defended the claim up to shortly before trial before it finally agreed to settle. The lengthy delay only added significant insult to injury causing the family increased amounts distress and upset.”
A spokesperson for University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS trust said: “We would like to apologise to Cameron’s family. The trust reviewed its processes after this complex case in 2018 and recognised some shortfalls. Steps were immediately taken to address issues raised.”
