A Jewish woman has filed a lawsuit against Hackensack University Medical Center, alleging that the hospital misplaced her stillborn son’s remains and performed an unauthorized autopsy, disregarding her religious beliefs and explicit instructions.
The 34-year-old mother, who underwent an induced birth of her stillborn son at the northern New Jersey hospital on September 28, 2022, had explicitly declined an autopsy, as per halacha and already knowing the reason for why the child was stillborn – he had a congenital heart defect. The lawsuit, filed in August in U.S. District Court, asserts that despite the woman’s clear refusal, an autopsy was performed nearly a year later without her consent.
According to the lawsuit, the woman had signed a consent form permitting only a basic examination of her son’s remains, explicitly prohibiting a full autopsy. She left the hospital trusting her son’s remains would be handled according to her wishes, with arrangements for interring the baby’s remains within four weeks.
Court papers allege that it wasn’t until July 2023—almost a year after the birth—that she discovered by chance that the hospital had conducted an autopsy. The suit claims the hospital initially misplaced the remains in the morgue due to the infant’s small size, leading to a delay in further action until February 2023.
The filing further states that Hackensack University Medical Center hired a fetal pathologist in June 2023, and the unauthorized autopsy was conducted in July of that year.
The suit accuses the hospital of professional negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress, arguing that the hospital’s alleged failure to properly store, locate, and respect the remains caused the woman severe emotional trauma.
The lawsuit also contends that the hospital’s actions breached her personal and religious wishes, intensifying the grief and distress she has endured.