AN ANGUISHED Perthshire pensioner has demanded an apology after waiting more than 12 weeks to be told why his wife’s body was “needlessly” held for days in the police mortuary after her death.
Alistair Macfarlane (79) endured the pain of his wife Morna dying in his arms before police took her body to Dundee instead of releasing it to the undertaker because doctors had failed to provide her medical records.
In a further traumatic setback, he was then billed the cost of bringing his wife’s body back to Bridge of Cally.
He said: “I went from getting the paramedics in and trying to give her heart massage to having her dragged away within an hour.
“I never even got the chance to say goodbye because she was just gone.”
A former teacher, Mrs Macfarlane (80) had a long history of heart problems and was well known to staff at the cardiac department in Ninewells and her local GP surgery.
Complications had seen her transferred to the high dependency unit at Perth Royal Infirmary during the summer.
She was diabetic and walked with sticks.
She died on October 20 as her devoted husband rubbed lotion into her feet to treat the onset of shingles.
What happened next left Mr Macfarlane shocked.
He said: “She died very suddenly. The paramedics came in and couldn’t revive her.
“I phoned the police and undertaker and they phoned Ninewells to find out about her history and the doctor wasn’t forthcoming and said he wouldn’t be coming out to view the body.
“The police had to take her into the police mortuary in Dundee where she was incarcerated until the Monday and the practice in Blairgowrie was opened up and they were given the necessary paperwork by the doctor and released back to the undertaker,” Mr Macfarlane said
A further blow was to come when the bill arrived from the undertaker.
He said: “There was a section in it for conveying Morna’s body from the police mortuary to Blairgowrie. It’s a bill of £480. It took me totally by surprise.
“The police took her into Dundee needlessly and I had to bring her back it should have been the police that took her back.”
He complained to NHS Tayside on November 26 and was promised a response within 20 days. He is still waiting, despite several phone calls.
He said: “One police officer said if he had been given the information that she was a heart failure case, and was known to the doctors, they wouldn’t have had to take her away.
“They had to carry through their procedures, though.”
Dr Joyce Meikle, lead clinician for Tayside out of hours, said: “Death certificates are normally issued by the patient’s own GP. The out-of-hours service do not issue death certificates as the service does not have the information required to complete the certificate.
“In the case of a sudden death, if the issuing of a death certificate cannot be confirmed there may be police involvement.
“Tayside out-of-hours service is implementing a new process which will allow them to advise if a certificate is likely to be issued by the patient’s GP and this should help avoid police involvement and enable the family to use their preferred funeral director.”
A spokesman for Tayside Police said: “We are sorry to hear of the additional distress this has caused to Mr Macfarlane.
“He understands the need for the police actions and his concerns have been passed to NHS 24 for them to explore the circumstances.”
arichardson@thecourier.co.uk