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MASSACHUSETTS AMENDMENTS
New Bills Filed With The Massachusetts Legislature
Please write to your State Representative or Senator, Speaker of The House or Senate President and voice your support of these bills.
Senate Bill # 453
Legislation relative to the requirements necessary to obtain a certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth
Senate Bill # 743
Legislation relative to prenatal, childbirth and postpartum care benefits.
Please write to your representatives and senators of the Massachusetts Legislature. Members of the Massachusetts General Court are listed on their home page ~ link here.
House Bill #3729
An act relitive to the disposition of fetal remians.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:Section 202 of chapter 111 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1998
SECTION I. Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the fifth paragraph and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:
Said commissioner may compile an annual statistical report of fetal deaths, titled certificate of stillbirth, and may make such further use of such records as he deems useful for administrative and research purposes connected with health programs and population studies. The terms, product of conception and fetus, will be eliminated from all certificates and be replaced with the term unborn child.
SECTION 2. The sixth paragraph of said section 202 of said chapter 111, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the first sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:-
Certificates of stillbirth shall be confidential and shall be released by the department only upon written request of the parent, his guardian, executor, attorney, or any other person designated by the parent in writing.
SECTION 3. The seventh paragraph of said section 202 of said chapter 111, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the last sentence and inserting in place thereof the following seven sentences:- Before disposition, the physician or person in charge of the hospital shall provide the parent with a form prepared by the department informing the parent of his right to direct either burial, entombment or cremation of the fetal remains of any gestation, or disposal of the remains by the hospital or physician. Such form shall include a statement that the parent shall have up to 30 days from the date of discharge from the hospital to sign said form directing disposition. Said form shall also state the person or department responsible for receiving said form. Said form shall also inform the parent of the hospital policy relating to disposal of fetal remains and shall inform the parent of the availability of counseling, including, but not limited to, religious counseling. During that 30 day period, the hospital shall store such fetal remains in a reasonable manner. If a signed form is not received by the hospital within the 30 day period, such disposition of the fetal remains that are disposed of by the hospital shall be by cremation, interment by burial, or in a manner individually directed in writing by the commissioner of the department of public health. Laboratory tests necessary for the health of the woman or her future offspring, determination of parentage or medical experimentation as approved in writing by the mother may be completed by the hospital or as directed by the attending physician or medical examiner prior to such disposition. A hospital failing to comply with the requirements of this paragraph shall be subject to a fine of not more than $1,000 per violation.
SECTION 4. Said section 202 of said chapter 111, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by striking out the word “fifty”, in line 62, and inserting in place thereof the figure: 1,000.
`Livid' pair claims Tufts Health Plan ads mislead
by Michael LasalandraMonday, April 23, 2001
A Lexington couple that has been pushing for more rights for parents of stillborn babies is now pointing the finger at the Tufts Health Plan for ``false advertising'' in its new TV and radio campaign.
``We're really livid,'' said Michael Morrisey, whose wife, Jean, suffered a miscarriage in 1997.
Now, the Morriseys have filed complaints with the state Department of Public Health and attorney general's office saying that Tufts Health Plan's policy may violate state law and its new TV ad campaign is misleading.
Tufts' new ads boast that the plan provides a home visit to ``every new mother.''
But Morrisey is upset that the plan does not automatically provide such a visit to mothers of stillborn babies.
``They say `every new mother' when that isn't the policy,'' he said.
Under state law, a woman with a ``newly born child'' must be allowed to stay in the hospital at least 48 hours, or 96 hours for a C-Section.
Any woman who agrees to be discharged earlier is to be given home visitation as well as education and other services, according to the law.
Tufts spokesman Katherine Grant says the Tufts policy goes beyond what the law requires, in that every new mother who goes home with a baby gets a home visit, no matter how long she stays in the hospital.
``There is clinical evidence that they benefit from that home visit,'' she said.
Morrisey said women who suffer miscarriages or stillbirths would also benefit from a home visit, for some of the same reasons that mothers of healthy babies do.
``There is no such thing as an easy delivery,'' he said.
But Grant said such women may or may not benefit from a home visit. ``It depends on the circumstance,'' she said. ``If appropriate, they would get it.''
Morrisey said the law should be interpreted to require home visits for all mothers who are discharged early, not just those whose babies live.
Roseann Pawelec, DPH spokeswoman, said the agency will look into the matter at Morrisey's request, but added: ``At first glance, we have some issues with his interpretation of the law.''
Ann Donlan, spokeswoman for Attorney General Tom Reilly, confirmed the agency has been contacted.
``We're looking into it,'' she said.
The Morriseys filed a complaint against Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center after suffering a miscarriage in 1997. They said that when they asked for the remains for burial, they were told it had been thrown out as ``medical waste.''
The hospital was cited for violating a state law that requires parents to be offered options. Last year, the Morriseys filed legislation that would ban the disposal of fetal remains as medical waste and require burial or cremation. The bill has again been filed this year.
BEACON HILL BEAT
Friday, December 1, 2000
Activists to Protest HomeVisits Policy as Discriminatory
Initiative Disregards Mothers of Stillborns
A group of pregnancy loss advocates is planning a campaign to have regulations regarding home nursing visits changed. Alerted by an item in Thursday’s Beacon Hill Beat, Jean and Mike Morrisey obtained a copy of the proposed regulations and discovered what they consider to be discrimination. The Morriseys told BHB, “We are currently working on a new initiative concerning these very same ‘at-home visits’ for new mothers. Seems that they are very discriminatory in several ways. Mothers who carry their babies to term, or whose babies are born early and survive, are given these at home visits by the Division of Medical Assistance, Mass Health, Dept. of Public Health, HMO's and insurers. But the mother who carries her baby to full term, or near full term, but has a stillbirth is given absolutely nothing. No at-home visits, no information or counseling under the ‘drive through maternity’ laws even though the woman has the same medical needs, has very distinct counseling needs for grief and severe postpartum depression, begins to lactate but isn't counseled, but doesn't have the joys of having the baby to hold and nurse.”
The regulations in question are 130 CMR 403.000, which are being considered by the DMA. The DMA is holding no hearings on the proposals, and will only accept written comments until the end of business today. The phone number at the DMA is 617-210-5690.
BEACON HILL BEAT
Friday, December 8, 2000
Lawmakers File Bills on Behalf of Grieving Parents…Two of the bills offered for the 2000-2001 legislative session are intended to lessen the grief of parents who suffer pregnancy loss. The first of these two bills – sponsored by Sen. Susan Fargo (D-Lincoln) seeks to amend the six “Drive Through Maternity” laws in to assure that women who suffer a stillbirth will receive care equal to women who give birth to a healthy child. The bill would assure that women who suffer the stillbirth of their babies, would receive follow up at home visits by nurses just as women who have a healthy baby. These visits would include care and counseling in grief and post delivery care specific to women who suffer a stillbirth. Julie Venema, Legislative Director for Sen. Fargo, told the Beacon Hill Beat that this should not be a “tough issue” for the legislature. “The senator just wants to make sure that women with stillborn children get the same treatment as those with healthy babies.”
The other bill, based upon a similar one which did not get all the way through the legislative process in the last session, deals with the state’s “Fetal Death Report.” An aide for Rep. Susan Pope (R-Wayland), lead sponsor of the bill, told BHB that the current practice can be “horrific.” She explained that the bill is being filed on behalf of a couple whose stillborn child was “burned as hospital waste.” This bill would direct hospitals to inform families of stillborn children about all the options for the disposition of the remains of the child.
Parents' grief often ignored
Scant comfort offered in miscarriage cases
Monday, July 17, 2000
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
By James Dempsey
Telegram & Gazette Columnist
Miscarriage is the chilling shadow that can too easily fall across the normally joyful time of pregnancy. As many as one out of four pregnancies can miscarry, and for those couples looking forward to their new child the experience can be as devastating as a death that takes place after delivery.
How much more damaging this can be if, as has happened, the remains of that hoped-for child are incinerated and then buried in a landfill, the same treatment accorded hospital waste.
Advocates for changes in how hospitals dispose of what is known as “fetal remains” are behind a proposed law currently making its way through the Statehouse. State laws already regulate this matter, but advocates say that hospitals vary greatly in their adherence to the regulations and that more oversight is needed.
Michael and Jean Morrisey were shocked when, after a miscarriage that resulted in surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, they were told that the remains of the 14-week fetus had been disposed of as “medical waste.”
The Morriseys have collected dozens of such stories from around the state, some of which are even more horrific than their own. The stillborn child of Patricia Williams, for instance, sat on a shelf in a container of formalin preservative at Quincy Hospital, now Quincy Medical Center, for four years before the remains were returned to the mother. Mrs. Morrisey, of Lexington, and Mrs. Williams, formerly of Quincy and now of Scituate, R.I., told their stories last month to the Joint Committee on Health Care. Both Mrs. Williams and the Morriseys are suing the hospitals involved.
Activists such as the Morriseys accuse many hospitals of being insensitive and out of touch.
“We see this as a highly antiquated treatment of women and families suffering these tragic losses,” said Mr. Morrisey. “The medical industry hasn't caught up to year 2000. They're still in a 1940s, 1950s mode. It's basically, 'Shut it out of your mind, show a stiff upper lip and come back when you're ready to have another child.' ”
The new law would require a hospital to give parents a standardized written statement of the hospital's policy and allow parents to direct the hospital regarding disposal. Parents, who may be grieving immediately after the miscarriage, would be given more time to make a decision, and a fine of $1,000 could be levied on hospitals failing to follow the procedures.
Some hospitals, like the UMass Memorial Medical Center, win praise from the Morriseys for the manner in which they handle these losses. The couple organized a conference with UMass Memorial Health Care on the issue in Worcester in 1998.
“We brought in the executive directors of the top three perinatal foundations in country, and they said this is one of best hospitals in the world at doing this,” Mr. Morrisey said.
“All our patients are offered the opportunity to make private arrangements if they wish,” said Elena Ann Coffey, clinical social worker for the UMass Memorial Medical Center -- Memorial Campus. “They have the option to arrange for cremation or burial or hospital disposition.
“Regrettably, when the community is speaking about miscarriage they don't visualize a child,” she said. “For those of us working with bereaved parents, it is always a child. Society doesn't validate a miscarriage in the same way as a stillborn or newborn death. Often the parents are not given permission to initiate their grieving, and when I counsel patients, I share my philosophy that there is no greater loss, and there's no competitive grief.”
Mr. Morrisey was asked whether he thought that the uncomfortable ambivalence people feel toward miscarriage may arise from the fact that while one pregnancy may be ended by miscarriage, another may be ended by a legal abortion. Mr. Morrisey said he tries to stay out of the abortion argument.
“We're not judging anybody to say they're right or wrong,” he said. “We're saying that if a woman decides to have a child and really wants it but happens to have a stillborn or miscarriage, it's not appropriate to treat her the same way as a woman having an abortion or a late-term abortion.”
Indeed, simply because society cannot resolve the fractious issue of abortion shouldn't mean that parents suffering miscarriage or stillbirth should be denied the opportunity to mourn. That's why, Ms. Coffey said, it's important to create memories and mementos for parents. A stillborn child may be dressed to be presented to the parents, and the hospital may try to provide photographs, handprints, footprints, a lock of hair, even an ultrasound picture.
“It's validation that their child did exist and was part of their life,” said Ms. Coffey. “Society knows how to offer comfort when someone loses a child. But for parents with early loss, their memories are few and the relationship is brief.”
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Jim Dempsey can be reached via e-mail at dempsey@telegram.com.
© 2000 Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Please Write To MA Legislators In Support of The New Massachusetts Law
Here is a sample letter that you can copy from - or add your own personal story and E-mail to three key MA legislators who chair the Health Committe and house policy committee in the MA House & Senate.
Dear Representative DeLeo and Senator Moore,
I am writing to you to bring to your attention the issue of proper care for women and
families who have suffered a miscarriage or stillbirth. Each year one out of four families
who become pregnant will lose that child to miscarriage or stillbirth.
The proper care would mean that every family would be given full disclosure of every
option available to them in order for them to make a personal decision on the disposition
of their baby’s remains. When they are not given these choices they can suffer a lifetime
of emotional trauma and regrets.
I am asking you to do everything in your power to see to the passage of House Bill 3729
so that these rights of all women in your state are fully enforced without the discrimination against those families who do not have the means to a proper and respectful burial or cremation. In these instances it is truly unfair because of their financial status to force hospital disposition of medical waste dispsoal on them.
Sincerely
(Your Name and address)
Bill would change regulations on disposal of fetal remains
Photo caption: An emotional Patricia Williams, left, of Quincy is comforted by Jean Morrisey of Lexington, right, as the two women appear before the Massachusetts Health Care Committee Monday at the Statehouse in Boston. Williams and Morrisey both related stories concerning their pregnancy losses, with Williams telling how she found out that her baby was held for 4 years against her wishes.
By TOM WALSH Patriot Ledger Statehouse Bureau
BOSTON -- Patricia Williams says she never wants another woman to face the emotional trauma of trying to track down the remains of her stillborn baby.
``Why should any parent have to search for their baby's remains, especially when the baby died inside a Massachusetts hospital?'' Williams, a former Quincy resident, asked a legislative panel Monday.
The joint House and Senate Committee on Health Care heard testimony on a proposed bill that would prevent hospitals from treating fetal remains as medical waste.
Williams believes the measure would have made it less likely that the remains of her baby would have ended up in a jar on a Quincy Hospital shelf for more than four years.
But a spokeswoman for Quincy Medical Center, formerly known as Quincy Hospital, said the hospital's policy would not be affected by a change in the law.
Under current law, hospitals must give the parents the option of disposing of fetal remains by entombment, burial or cremation. The parents can also choose to let the hospital handle the remains, which often means they are treated as medical waste -- incinerated and taken to a landfill.
The proposed law would require hospitals to dispose of fetal remains through either burial or cremation. The only exception would be if the public health commissioner deemed it necessary for safety reasons to incinerate the remains.
``It has always been Quincy Medical Center's policy to cremate or bury fetal remains,'' said hospital spokeswoman Karen Schwartzman.
Williams miscarried at Quincy Hospital in October 1995. When she and her husband went to find out a few days later what happened to their baby's remains, Williams testified, she entered a long ordeal that ended late last year when hospital officials said they had found the remains on a shelf.
The hospital was reprimanded by the state, and has since said it clarified its internal policies to ensure better communication.
``In this instance there was a communication lapse which caused policy not to be followed properly,'' Schwartzman said. ``The hospital continues to regret the incident.''
Williams has filed a lawsuit against the hospital.
Jean Morrisey, of Lexington, said she miscarried in June 1997, but was not given the option of how to dispose of the fetus.
``Five days later, when my husband inquired about the remains of our baby to be turned over for a proper Christian burial in one of our family plots, he was matter of factly told that my baby was disposed of as medical waste as it was just soft tissue,'' Morrisey said.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center was cited by the Department of Public Health for violating the law in that case.
Sherokee Ilse, a Minnesota woman who has traveled across the country to talk about the issue, said, ``My experience with literally thousands of families whose babies have died tells me that what happens to their child's body is very important to them.
``For some it is important at the time, for others shortly after and for many it becomes a haunting question much later,'' she said.
Ilse said a Minnesota law that bars the treatment of fetal remains as medical waste has worked well.
``It has become an easy and natural thing to do -- a hospital policy that is good public policy,'' she said.
Proponents of the proposed legislation, sponsored by Sen. Michael Morrissey, D-Quincy, and Rep. Stephen Tobin, D-Quincy, said that, in general, the state has a good law already on the books.
They say the proposed legislation is needed to close a small crack in current law that can sometimes lead to heartache for parents.
Between 10 and 20 percent of pregnancies result in a miscarriage, according to medical experts.
Williams said she is still not 100 percent sure the remains given to her by Quincy Medical Center are those of her baby.
She said the chemicals used to preserve the remains made DNA testing impossible. The fetus has not yet been buried because of a pending court case, she said.
``We'll bury her even if she isn't ours because, hopefully, someone would do that for us,'' Williams said.
Copyright 2000 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted 27-JUN-00
SALEM EVENING NEWS
Bill seeks to regulate the disposal of fetal remains
Tuesday, June 27, 2000
By STEVE LeBLANC
Associated Press writer
BOSTON -- When she miscarried after nearly six months of pregnancy, Patricia Williams said, she was told the body of her stillborn daughter Teresa would be cremated after an autopsy.
Instead, the remains sat on a shelf at Quincy Medical Center for four years until 1999, as Williams tried to confirm the cremation.
"Why should any parent have to search for their baby's remains?" Williams said yesterday. "Teresa's remains were never treated in a dignified manner. Ever."
Now lawmakers are weighing a bill that would require hospitals to cremate or bury fetal remains, hoping to spare other women the years of uncertainty Williams and her family suffered.
By law hospitals must now offer women who miscarry the option of cremating or burying fetal remains. Activists say those regulations are routinely ignored and do not go far enough.
In cases where women do not say how they would like to dispose of the remains, the bill would prevent hospitals from treating the fetuses as medical waste and instead require them to cremate or bury the remains.
The proposal is modeled after a similar law in Minnesota.
Minnesota resident Sherokee Ilse, whose son Brennan was stillborn in 1981, said the law helps guarantee fetuses do not end up in landfills.
"If you don't choose to have a funeral ritual with the body present, whether cremated or not, would you feel OK about your child's body sitting on a shelf in a lab?" Ilse told a legislative panel yesterday.
Lawmakers said they sympathize with the pain of the families, but are unsure if the bill would help the situation.
What is needed is tougher penalties for breaking the laws that are already on the books, according to Sen. Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge, co-chair of the Committee on Health Care, which held a hearing on the bill yesterday.
Instead of forcing hospitals to cremate or bury fetal remains with or without the input of parents, the bill should require hospitals to work with parents to come to a decision cooperatively, Moore said.
Quincy Medical Center has revised its policies concerning fetal remains in the wake of the situation with the Williams' family, according to a spokeswoman.
"As we have said multiple times, the hospital regrets that communications lapses on its part may have added to the Williams family's grief," said hospital spokeswoman Karen Schwartzman. "We have strengthened our procedures to ensure that this kind of situation does not happen again."
Williams is suing the hospital. She declined to discuss how the remains of her daughter were lost for four years and then discovered by the hospital.
Lexington resident Jean Morrisey is also a strong supporter of the bill. Morrisey, whose baby was stillborn in 1997, said she was in grief and shock at first.
When her husband asked about obtaining the remains for burial five days later, he was told the remains had been disposed of as medical waste, according to Morrisey.
"I had the right to direct the disposition of my baby following my miscarriage," she said.
The committee will review the bill and make a recommendation to the full Legislature by the end of the week, according to Moore.
Political notes: Fetal remains bill intersects abortion controversy
June 27, 2000
A Lexington woman whose stillborn baby was classified as " medical waste" and tossed into the trash by a Boston hospital in 1997 asked lawmakers yesterday to pass a law forcing hospitals to either cremate fetal remains or bury them in a cemetery.Jean Morrisey testified in favor of the bill before the Legislature's Joint Committee on Health Care. She was one of several mothers who came to the hearing with horror stories of hospitals carelessly and irreverently mishandling their children's bodies after a miscarriage.
Current state law requires a hospital to ask grieving parents whether they wish to make funeral arrangements, or if they would rather have the hospital dispose of the fetus for them.
However, few hospitals regularly volunteer details about those disposal plans, which can range from traditional cremation, to incineration along with lab specimens in a medical waste disposal furnace, or discarding in a landfill.
Morrisey said she learned how her child was disposed of days after her miscarriage in a phone call with a nurse.
She said the experience made her feel "isolated and belittled," and urged the committee to support the law change as a way of protecting future mothers.
Action on the bill, though, may be a bit of a political challenge.
Hospital officials and the state Department of Public Health say current guidelines on disposition of fetal remains are adequate. Some lawmakers may be reluctant to take up the issue of whether the law should cover abortions.
Committee chairman Sen. Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge, said it is not clear whether the new bill would add any new protections for grieving families. In its current form, it offers only light fines for hospitals that disobey the law.
Also testifying in favor of the bill yesterday was Patricia Williams, a Quincy woman whose stillborn child was kept in a jar of formaldehyde without her knowledge for nearly four years.
The poorly preserved fetus was discovered in a Quincy Hospital storage room in 1999. Williams said she had been told after her miscarriage that the child's remains had been cremated after an autopsy.
"Our religious rights were grossly violated," she said. "Teresa's remains were never treated in a dignified manner. Ever."
The Joint Committee on Health Care is likely to take several weeks, if not months, to issue an opinion on the bill. The would need to approve it before it could move to the House floor for a full debate.
Budget clock countdown
The high-powered legislative conference committee trying to hammer out differences between the House and Senate versions of the state budget have until Friday to send the spending bill to the governor's desk -- if they still care about meeting deadlines for these sorts of things.
The new fiscal year starts on July 1, meaning the Legislature must pass a temporary spending bill to keep the government running if officials miss the deadline yet again.
Last year, lawmakers did not get a bill to the governor's desk until November, nearly five months late.
But the heat is on this election year to get the budget done on time, and that means the conference committee will have to work double time to resolve some major gaps between the $21.7 billion plan approved by the House and the $21.5 billion plan approved by the Senate.
Some of the biggest differences include disagreements on tax cuts, the clean elections law, affordable housing and how much each branch wants to spend this year out of the $8 billion in cash won from tobacco industry lawsuits.
One of the biggest budgetary items of the new millennium, $2 billion in cost overruns on the Big Dig, has already been resolved. Legislative leaders and the governor agreed last month to a spending plan that will reinstate drivers' license fees and car registration fees, and use the state's budget surplus to cover the cost of the massive highway project.
(MetroWest Daily News State House reporter David B. Caruso can be reached at 617-722-2495 or dcaruso@cnc.com.)
Health Care Committee Holding Hearing on Fetal Remains Bill
Friday, June 23, 2000
On Monday, the Committee will hear testimony on a bill which outlines parental rights regarding the disposition of fetal remains. The bill, H5256 was submitted by Sen. Michael W. Morrissey and Rep. Stephen Tobin, both Democrats of Quincy. The intent of the bill is to give parents some control over what happens after a stillbirth or miscarriage. Mike Morrisey, of Quincy, on whose behalf the bill was filed, told Massachusetts News that, "Several women will be testifying at the hearing on Monday, including Pat Wiliams of Quincy whose stillborn baby, Teresa, was given back to her after 4 years by Quincy Hospital. The testimonies will be graphic to say the least. Plus we have uncovered that there are no CMR regs anywhere that are for women who suffer a stillbirth or miscarriage even though there are 6, or more, laws that state there are to be such regs. It's truly an act of discrimination against families who suffer this tragedy."
The hearing will take place on Monday, June 26 at 11 a.m. in Room B-2 of the State House.
The Beacon Hill Beat
Wednesday, April 26, 2000
Quincy Legislators File Bill on Disposition of Fetal Remains
Sen. Michael Morrisey and Rep. Stephen Tobin, both Democrats of Quincy,
this week filed a bill which gives parents rights to make decisions as to the disposition of the fetal remains after a miscarriage. The bill is intended to deal with abuses which have taken place in several hospitals in the Bay State. Jean Morrisey, of Lexington, one of the backers of the proposed amendment, said "These kinds of abuses of women and families can no longer be tolerated in this state, the new proposed amendment to c. 111, s. 202 is the positive solution." A very similar bill was filed on the same date (April 25) in 1978 by former Senate President William Bulger and then State Senator Chester Atkins. The bill has not yet been assigned a number.
Sen. Morrisey's phone number is 617-722-1494. Rep. Tobin can be reached at
617-722-2900.
“It shows the state of medicine right now.... When it comes to pregnancy loss issues,"
Michael Mornssey, Lexington
Couple says fetal remains disposal is too haphazard
By David B. Caruso
NEWS STAFF WRITER
March 23, 2000
A Lexington family whose stillborn child was tossed away as “medical waste” in 1997 plans to file legislation within the next few weeks that would more tightly regulate the way hospitals handle fetal remains. Authored by Michael and Jean Morrissey of Lexington, the measure would require hospitals to tell grieving patients how they dispose of fetal remains. The law would also require hospitals to either cremate or bury the remains.
Michael Morrissey said the need for the bill was made clear in a Department of Public Health report, issued Tuesday, on Quincy Hospital’s handling of a 1995 death.
The DPH inquiry found hospital pathologists violated state rules by keeping the remains of a 22-week-old fetus against the mother’s instructions.
The body of Patricia Williams’ stillborn daughter was kept in a jar of formaldehyde in a hospital morgue for nearly four years.
Williams had been told her baby was cremated. Hospital officials revealed the error to her last year. DPH officials this week recommended changes in Quincy Hospital policies, but fell short of fining the hospital or taking severe disciplinary action.
Regulators should have taken tougher action. Morrissey said.
“It shows the state of medicine right now,” Morrissey said. “When it comes to pregnancy loss issues, they just can’t handle it.”
FETAL REMAINS, PageA9
Couple wants tighter law on. fetal remains
FETAL REMAINS, From A 1
Morrissey’s wife, Jean, miscarried at Beth Israel Hospitalin Boston in 1997. The couple later learned that the body of their child had been disposed of as medical waste without
their consent.
Under the family’s bill, hospitals would also be required to get a mother’s written consent before they took samples of fetal tissue or conducted experiments on the body.
The bill would exempt medical faciliuies from following the disposal rules if the fetus was aborted intentionally.
Current Department of Public Health regulations allow hospitals to dispose of fetal remains in a variety of ways without explaining their procedures to patients as long as a mother is given an option for a ceremonial disposaL
Morrissey said the state needs a tougher, clearer law on the books.
“There needs to be some sort of legIslative reining in of hospitals” he said. “Hospitals are not telling patients what they are doing. ... This particular case in Quincy shows how bad it can get. Something has to be done.”
The Morrisseys posted a copy of their legislative petition on the Internet. It can be read and signed eletronically at: www.petitionpetition.com.
Williams, in a phone interview yesterday from her home in Quincy, said she is not completely satisfied with the DPH report on Quincy Hospital and plans to meet with state officials Monday.
“There are some issues here that they have not addressed,” Williams said. She and her husband have also filed a lawsuit against the hospital seeking unspecffied damages.
Parents ask state rules on fetuses
By Sacha Pfeiffer, Globe Staff, 3/9/2000
Spurred by several recent widely publicized cases of stillborn or miscarried fetuses being incinerated as medical waste without parental consent, a small group of citizens today will propose that state law be amended so fetal remains can be only buried or cremated.
Filed as a citizens' petition, the measure would require burial or cremation except in special circumstances or if a fetus has been aborted.
''It's a much more caring and compassionate way for disposition of an unborn child,'' said Lexington resident Michael Morrisey, who learned that Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center had disposed of his baby's remains as medical waste after his wife miscarried in 1997.
The hospital was later found to have violated state law by not notifying the Morriseys of their options for fetal disposition. Earlier this year, the hospital was cited again for violating its contract with a waste-removal company by including fetal remains in medical waste.
Senator Susan Fargo, a Lincoln Democrat, and Representative Jay R. Kaufman, a Lexington Democrat, said they will file the proposed amendment. But as of yesterday afternoon, neither had seen a copy of the document.
Based on her earlier reading of a draft of the proposed amendment, Fargo said she felt it ''went a little too far,'' but that she was ''duty bound'' to file it nonetheless. ''I felt that it might interfere with the way hospitals function,'' she said.
Roseanne Pawelec, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Health, declined to comment on the proposed amendment. ''The law currently provides a sensitive mechanism to ensure that parents' wishes are carried out,'' she said.
Quincy woman presses for law on handling of fetal remains
By GARY SUSSWEIN The Patriot Ledger
BOSTON -- A woman whose stillborn daughter was kept in a jar in formaldehyde at Quincy Hospital for four years is urging lawmakers to guarantee proper burials or cremation for all fetal remains.
Patricia Williams of Quincy visited the Statehouse yesterday to ask officials to back a bill that would prevent fetal remains from being disposed as medical waste.
``What brought me (here) is the events that happened to my own daughter,'' Williams said. ``She was placed in a container in formula and submerged in it. That I had to go and see her in that condition was beyond belief and I don't want to see that happen again.''
The bill was filed as a citizens' petition by Michael and Jean Morrisey of Lexington. The couple learned in 1997 that Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital had disposed of their stillborn child's remains as medical waste.
The Morriseys are not related to state Sen. Michael Morrissey, D-Quincy.
Williams' ordeal began in October, 1995 when she suffered a miscarriage 22 weeks into her pregnancy. She named the baby Teresa Crehan and authorized Quincy Hospital to cremate the remains after performing an autopsy.
Last year, the hospital told her the remains had been lost, then told her they were actually sitting in a jar of formaldehyde in a hospital morgue. She and her husband, David, are suing the hospital.
Williams also met yesterday with Department of Public Health officials. They could not guarantee that her situation would not be repeated elsewhere, she said.
The bill would allow doctors to perform medical experiments on a fetus with permission from the mother.
Williams said she wants to talk to Gov. Paul Cellucci about the bill.
``I would tell him to give parents full right of how their babies are to be disposed of and full disclosure -- to let them know everything,'' Williams said.
Copyright 2000 The Patriot Ledger
Transmitted 10-MAR-00
Latest Initiative for One-Time Tax Exemptions for Funeral Expenses of Stillborn Babies
Dear Senators and Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,We are writing to seek your support for the following initiative. As you know we have been
working for the rights of parents who have been beset by the tragedy of miscarriage, stillbirth
and neonatal death for some time now, and have either through personal experience or by
research, found many discriminatory actions taken against women, couples and families who
have suffered these terrible tragedies, then were the victims of many discriminatory acts.
Currently we have three bills filed before the Massachusetts legislature, the first is for
establishment of a Certificate of Birth Resulting in Stillbirth, to replace the Fetal Death
Report which is a terrible and cruel data collection document.
We are also vying for equal maternity care through the Drive Through Maternity Laws for
women who suffer stillbirths, and the respectful disposition of fetal remains bill that was
filed last year and refiled this year.
We have recently been informed of a Bill before the Michigan Legislature, House Bill 4165,
for a one-time tax exemption for funeral costs for a stillborn child. If a child lives for even
one minute the woman, couple or family can take a one time tax exemption for the funeral
costs, but cannot if the baby is born still.
Many couples that lose a child late in pregnancy have already invested substantial amounts of
money in preparation for the baby's arrival. When a stillbirth then occurs, there are
frequently related medical bills, and sometimes even funeral costs. These are not small
amounts of money for many families. The child deduction under this bill would allow the
family to recover at least some these costs, which are no less real, and which could have been
claimed had the child been born alive.
Below is a letter that was published in hundreds of newspapers, the Dear Ann Landers
column, that outlines a possible federally legislated proposal that would be of great assistance
to many thousands of parents who have suffered the tragedy of a stillbirth, gone through the
ritual of a burial, and then found out that there was no tax deductions for burial costs of that
burial, only because their beloved baby did not take a single breath and was pronounced
stillborn. We could at least begin the process of initiating this change here in Massachusetts.
A loved and wanted child who is born still is no less loved, deserves no less respect of a
proper disposition by the family should they choose a burial, and should be capable of the
same respect in the governments eyes in all areas, including the tax codes who would
discriminate by telling these parents that their baby is somehow less of a child only because it
never took a single breath.
This legal recognition is already established in many countries around the world. In
Australia families are issued a birth and death certificate, for a stillborn child, as a legal form
of recognition. They also allow a families to register the names of a stillborn child on family
census forms. Here in the United States none of this is done for the families who suffer a
stillbirth, and they are not allowed to deduct the real expenses of a burial for the real child
that they bury.
Please read the letter to Ann Landers below. If you could be of any assistance in beginning
the process of proposing this legislation here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts many
thousands of families would be grateful for your efforts on their behalf.
Sincerely,
Jean Morrisey
Michael Morrisey
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No recognition in tax law for parents’ grief
The following article appeared in the Ann Landers column on April 6, 1998. Wendy’s
daughter Mackenzie was stillborn on November 9, 1996, she believes bereaved parents
should receive a tax deduction.
Dear Ann Landers: Many of your readers are still working on their income taxes. I would
like to pass along some information that might be helpful for parents who have experienced
the loss of a stillborn baby. You will not be able to count your son or daughter as a family
dependent on your income tax form this year or ever. The federal government does not
recognize that a stillborn child was a person.
My daughter, Morgan, was a beautiful, full-term baby girl who died because of a knot in
the umbilical cord. By law, my husband and I were required to “properly dispose” of the
body, which meant a funeral and burial. When it came time to fill out our taxes, though, we
were told we could not deduct these costs. Because Morgan was not born alive, she
technically did not exist.
Ann, I carried that child for nine months, feeling her every movement. We should have
been taking our new baby home instead of taking her to a mortuary. Our government ought
to allow grieving parents a way to recognize that their stillborn child existed. Giving parents
a one-time deduction on their income taxes not only provides financial relief but also some
moral consolation for the child they have lost.
Wendy in Newark
Dear Newark: I feel sad for you and can understand why you are upset. Perhaps someday,
the tax laws will be rewritten so that the Internal Revenue Service can give bereaved parents
a break, I hope so.
Parental Rights to Disposition Legislation - 2001
The State Journal-Register, Springfield, ILParents' rights bill headed to House
By ADRIANA COLINDRESSTATE CAPITOL BUREAU
Illinois hospitals should give grieving parents the option to decide what to do with the remains of a miscarriage, a House committee said Wednesday.
The House Human Services Committee voted unanimously for House Bill 382 after listening to testimony from Cecelia McGregor, a Minooka woman who suffered a miscarriage in 1998.
No one spoke against the bill, which now heads to the full House. E-mial Cecelia McGregor about the legislation in IL.
Hospitals state policy on fetuses
Parents of stillborns offered funeral optionBy Deborah Frazier, News Staff Writer
Most hospitals already offer parents the choice of a funeral after a miscarriage or stillbirth, officials said in response to a bill pending in the Colorado legislature.
Rep. Mark Cloer, R-Colorado Springs, introduced legislation Tuesday mandating that women be given the option of a funeral in cases of fetal death.
~ Click here to link to the Rock Mountain News story, Denver Colorado ~
MSSING ANGELS BILL PASSES IN JULY 2002 IN MASSACHUSETTS
There has been a recent move by several parents who are advocating several states for a change in the "fetal death reporting records," and to have them changed to "A Certificate of Birth, Resulting in Stillbirth."Kentucky, Massachusetts, Arizona, Utah, Indiana and others have already passed a Certificate of Stillbirth Resulting In Stillbirth Certificate law.
These Certificates would validate the existance of these stillborn children to the greiving families.
Below are the links to the web sites of women who are already taking the steps to implement these very important laws.
Congratulations to Lynn, Mother of Rachel, for all of her hard work in getting this new law passed in Massahcusetts.
Sample letter to write to your legislators to request that they file Parent's Rights for Proper Burial laws.
Address of Senator Rep.Dear Senator - Representative:
There has been a significant and sweeping change that has been going across the country in the area of women's and family rights here in America, and several other countries around the world.
Women, couples and families have been speaking out publicly through the press about the denial of their rights to burial of their unborn children lost to miscarriage and stillbirth. Stories of the remains of miscarried babies thrown away as medical waste against the wishes of the grieving women and families, a stillborn child returned to her mother in a jar many years after their delivery only because the mother demanded to know the whereabouts of her daughter and how she was cremated or buried, and countless denials of religious and personal choice rights to a proper disposition of their miscarried baby's remains have been seen again and again in the news.
It is now time for elected officials in all states to sure up the rights of women, couples and families and immediately pass laws that guarantee women their rights to choose what is the proper disposition, after a full 100% disclosure of all hospital policies, for them and their family. Only the woman can decide what is right for her miscarried and stillborn baby's earthly remains and any denial of these rights in even a single case is to utterly deny the rights of all women.
Colorado just passed and put into effect a significant law that assures the rights of all women who suffer a pregnancy loss, "irrespective of the duration of the pregnancy," to direct the disposition of the remains of the fetus. State Representative Mark Cloer valiantly pushed this legislation through the house and senate there, with unanimous bipartisan support, on behalf of his wife who suffered two miscarriages and upon asking for the remains for burial was coldly told that they were not hers, and would be disposed of as infectious medical waste.
Illinois has a very similar bill midway through the legislative process that will amend their laws so that women who suffer a pregnancy loss both over and under 20 weeks gestation will have full rights to direct the disposition and receive full disclosure of her rights and hospital policy.
And in Massachusetts, who has had on the books a law for full parental control of all disposition rights following any length gestation pregnancy loss since 1978, has a new bill that will bar medical waste disposal of any fetal remains left to the hospital for disposition. This bill is a very important step in ending any discrimination in parental direction of the disposition of a stillborn or miscarried baby, due to the lack of financial ability of the parents. Hospitals in the city are medical waste disposing full term stillborn babies, and early miscarriages, of women from the cities who are too poor for funeral expenses, while the more affluent suburban hospitals are treating babies lost to stillbirth and miscarriage with respect and dignity at the full direction of the parents.
I am imploring you to not only file legislation, but also give it your greatest support for the women of our state who will see the devastation of a miscarriage or stillbirth in the very near future, then have their precious babies lost again to the incinerator or the waste disposal company in the most undignified manner possible. Can you support hospitals that do these horrific actions to any woman due to their antiquated medical practices? Please help us change this awful protocol and bring compassion into the twenty-first century for all women who suffer a devastating miscarriage or stillbirth.
I greatly appreciate your support in this very important issue.
Sincerely,
Your name
Address and phone (very important)
