Dead baby photos given to mother

Link.

Quote :

A mother is suing an Ohio hospital after photos of her dead infant are mailed to her.

Heather Werth's infant son died at Good Samaritan, and more than 100 photos of the preemie were mailed to her.

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Werth said she told the hospital she didn't want any photos taken after Joey's death.

But she received 154 photos – in more than 20 poses.

The whole thing is pretty damn strange and I can definitely see why she's suing. I think that if a parent wants photos, then one or both parents should be in the room with the child's body while the hospital staff photographs just to make sure that something like this doesn't happen.

Geez, this is stupid - of the hospital. I mean, she says she doesn't want photos, why exactly did they do it? Is it standard procedure to photograph dead babies and somebody didn't get the memo?

America, you are REALLY weird if that's the case.

Okay, I can see if they needed pictures for record keeping or something... but 154? In multiple poses? It takes a LONG TIME to take that many pictures. Who the hell had not only the willingness, but the time and tenacity to do this sort of thing?

There are photographers who specialize in that- many parents apparently want pictures, nice pictures (not "naked and red and hooked to machines"), to remember their child by.

Quote :

"He was treated like a doll. He was flipped, and he was flopped. He was dressed, and he was undressed. He was wrapped in a blanket. He was posed. He was laying on his belly. He was laying on his back," Werth said about the photos.

This sounds to me exactly like such a photo session. My best guess is that there was a misunderstanding and someone called the photographer, or directed her (generally a her) to the wrong baby, or something. I'm sorry for the mother in that this reminder of her dead son was probably very painful for her, but as I understand it, these photoshoots are usually done with a lot of grace and not treating the baby "like a doll".

Azzandra wrote:

Okay, I can see if they needed pictures for record keeping or something... but 154? In multiple poses? It takes a LONG TIME to take that many pictures. Who the hell had not only the willingness, but the time and tenacity to do this sort of thing?

Seconded. I don't think I have that many photos of my four-month-old niece yet. I can see a couple, from different angles . . . but 154 photos of a dead baby? Sounds almost fetishistic to me.

I know it used to be very common to take pictures of a baby after it died because that was often the only photo the parents had. Even now it's common to take pictures if a baby is stillborn or dies shortly after birth. But if the parents don't want it, then that's their right. This hospital is wrong in sending her these pictures. And in all those poses. That's wrong. Most photos I've seen like this the baby is wrapped up and being held by the parents, just like any newborn picture.

There's a dead baby joke somewhere in here.

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

There's a dead baby joke somewhere in here.

Sure, if you're going for the low-hanging fruit.