By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE family of the late Lillian Theresa Gilbert has retained a lawyer to get answers from officials at the Rand Memorial Hospital as to how their mother’s body was released and mistakenly cremated at a local funeral home in Freeport. 

Andrew Gilbert and the family’s attorneys have attempted to get answers concerning the mix-up following 84-year-old Ms Gilbert’s death on November 20 at the Rand.

The Tribune has learned that the hospital may have also retained an attorney in the matter, and contacted the Public Hospital Authority Managing Director Herbert Brown yesterday to confirm it. 

On December 1, Mr Gilbert was informed by a hospital official that his mother had been cremated. The official he said explained that a lady with a similar name as his mother had died and had been scheduled for cremation, but that there was a mix-up and his mother’s body was cremated instead. 

The family has refused to accept the ashes due to the circumstances and was forced to proceed with Ms Gilbert’s funeral on December 5 without her remains. 

According to Mr Gilbert, cremation was something that his mother would not have wanted because of her religious beliefs.

At a recent press conference in Freeport, Mr Gilbert had told reporters that his mother was diagnosed with cancer last May and was taken to hospital after falling ill at home. 

The day before she died, he said arrangements had been made for Westside Mortuary in Eight Mile Rock to collect the body.

A representative from Westside went to the hospital on two occasions to collect the remains, but was told by hospital staff that they would contact him when it was ready. 

The family is devastated and wants answers to bring some resolution as to how it happened.