By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE bereaved family of the late Lillian Theresa Gilbert, whose body was mistakenly released from the Rand Memorial Hospital to the wrong funeral home and cremated, said their mother would not have wanted to be cremated because of her religious beliefs.

Her son, Andrew Gilbert, said his mother had lived with him and his family in their home for 27 years, and that cremation was never their wish nor that of his 84-year-old mother who died in hospital on November 20.

Ms Gilbert was diagnosed with cancer in May. After taking ill and having difficulty breathing, she was admitted to the hospital.

“The day before she passed she did not look too good and I knew she would not make it,” said Mr Gilbert.

He said arrangements were made for his mother’s body to be collected by Sherlin Woodside of Westside Mortuary and Crematorium.

“The day she passed we called Mr Woodside. He went to the hospital two separate times and they told him they would call him,” said Mr Gilbert

“We believed that sometime between Friday of her demise and Monday, November 30, 2015, her remains were collected from the hospital by a funeral home not of our choice and she was cremated,” he said.

On December 1, four days before the funeral, Mr Gilbert was called to a meeting at the Rand Memorial Hospital by senior hospital administrator Sharon Williams and her team and told that his mother had been cremated. He said that she further told him that a lady with a similar name as his mother had died. She had been scheduled for cremation. She said there was a mix up and “my mother’s remains were cremated instead of this lady.”

Due to the circumstances, he said they did not accept the ashes because of the mix-up in cremation, and were forced to proceed with the funeral on December 5 without their mother’s remains as family members had travelled to Freeport for the funeral.

“We were not sure whose ashes we’re getting,” Mr Gilbert said.

Mr Gilbert said they had purchased a dress in which they had wanted their mother to be buried.

After the ordeal, the Gilbert family said they looked into the matter and later learned that the name of the lady, for whom the hospital had mistaken his mother, did not resemble that of his mother as the hospital official had claimed.

“There is no similarity in the names at all,” insisted Mr Gilbert.

Mr Gilbert described his mother as a very active lady for her age. He said that she was always helping around the house when she didn’t have to.

“If my wife returned from the laundromat she would fold the clothes, and iron all of my shirts and her granddaughter’s clothes. We would tell her she did not have to do that, but she insisted. She loved to iron and cook, and sometimes when you got home food was already cooked. We enjoyed the 27 years with her up until the day of her death; she never complained of anything,” he recalled.

Mr Gilbert said that his family, including his two siblings, Keith Gilbert and Cynthia Gilbert, who live in New Providence, are concerned about how the situation has been handled.

“We want answers as to how this happened and resolution to this matter. Our attorney sent letters to various departments and there has been no response.”

“It is devastating,” he said.

“Today marks two months since the passing of my mother and I have yet to receive a response from the RMH, the Public Hospital’s Authority, a government official, or doctor as to what has transpired with my mother or even to find out how we are dealing with the loss and the devastating news.”

Mr Gilbert said public comments made by PHA Managing Director Herbert Brown, who said he was unfamiliar with the tragic mix up, were “very difficult to comprehend” as they had reached out on three different occasion trying to seek answers.

Attempts to reach officials from Rand Memorial Hospital for comment yesterday were unsuccessful.