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Mum’s anguish over son’s inquest mix-up
Post-mortem report described a different person
Distraught over the tragic loss of her 22-year-old son Hilary Abrey, of Tufnell Park, was horrified to read a pathologist’s report into how he died that described a totally different person.
Her son, inland revenue officer Daniel Abrey, should have been easily identifiable by his lip piercing and distinctive high boots, she said.
On Tuesday an inquest into Mr Abrey’s death at St Pancras Coroner’s Court, was dramatically halted for a month when mistakes in the report were revealed by his family. They claim the wrong body was examined in a post mortem.
Daniel was found dead at home in Tufnell Park Road, last August.
Mrs Abrey branded the inquest “ludicrous” after learning a pathologist may have mistakenly examined the body of a man a foot shorter than her own son.
Assistant deputy coroner Andrew Walker told the court: “We know the right person died, we know the right person was buried but there’s a missing step.” Mrs Abrey told the court: “I think it’s a travesty. The whole thing is a farce. You tell me how my son died. I need to know.”
Claiming she was not told of her son’s death immediately, she said: “This was my child, the child I loved. Five days he lay on the slab alone and unloved.”
She asked: “How hard is it to pull out the wrong drawer from the (mortuary) refrigeration unit?”
Leslie Thomas acting for Mr Abrey’s family said the post mortem report described the deceased as five feet four inches tall, but Mr Abrey was six feet, one inch tall – a height, which would have made him longer than the six feet-long pathologist’s table.
Mr Thomas also claimed the report, which is supposed to note any physical identifying features, had missed the fact that Mr Abrey had a lip piercing and was circumcised.
But home office pathologist Dr Freddy Patel claimed the body may have appeared shorter due to rigor mortis.
He said: “It didn’t strike me at the time that the body was six feet one inch. I think at the time the technician measured without taking into account rigor mortis.”
Mr Patel said he had not noticed Mr Abrey’s piercing. But when he was asked if he remembered Mr Abrey, he said: “Not clearly. On the tag (on Mr Abrey’s wrist) the name was spelt differently as Abery. I believe the post mortem was correct.”
He gave the cause of death as acute pulmonary edema – a collection of fluid in the lungs caused by the heart’s inability to pump blood properly and opiate toxicity, due to a low level of heroin in the body.
But Mr Walker assured Ms Abrey he was not definitely going to rely on the diagnosis, saying: “It’s a matter for me to say whether his death was an adverse reaction (to drugs) or a sudden adult death.”
He told Ms Abrey: “I’m as maddened as you Unless we start knowing that Dr Patel carried out a post mortem on Daniel Abrey we can’t continue. It may be that it simply reflects the inability to take a measurement properly.”
Ms Abrey also criticised Islington police for not telling her immediately about her son’s death and the St Pancras inquest for getting her son’s date of birth wrong.
The case was adjourned until December 28. |
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