Hospital Implements New Policies After Accidental Cremation of Infant

It’s been almost a month since baby Aaron Allen was accidentally cremated, and while the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital is yet to offer an official explanation, we understand that the administration is taking steps to prevent a reoccurrence. In July, the newborn was mistakenly handed over to the wrong funeral home and subsequently cremated. How the mix-up happened and how it is being dealt with are yet to be determined since the hospital has only stated that the matter was under investigation. Over the weekend, however, a memorandum was issued to the hospital staff, outlining new policies at the morgue. According to the new policy, funeral homes can no longer acquire a body from the morgue without being accompanied by a family member or next of kin. No official comment has been issued by the hospital, but our newsroom understands that the move is a result of the mix-up involving baby Aaron. Today, our newsroom spoke to Human Resource Manager at Paulino’s Funeral Home, Hyacinth Latchman-Cuellar, about the change and how it may impact their business or clients. 

Hyacinth Latchman-Cuellar, HR Manager, Paulino’s Funeral Home: “Once we have a client or a family we immediately sit with that family and we discuss the rules of the KHMH with them. So it’s not like something that they go to the KHMH and they’re not aware of what to expect ,they already know what to expect when they leave with us here at Paulino’s Funeral Home. It actually does not affect us. Like I said we are extremely professional with what we do. We feel that the KHMH had to do this as a double layer protection, more as a security. It protects them as the entity the hospital of first choice and of course it also protects us on the business side taking care of the client’s emotions, taking care of the client’s final send off for their family. So honestly it doesn’t affect us because we were prepared for something like this. We met and we were expecting something like this at any given time. We have somebody who is studying psychology and that person is prepped and ready to deal with those emotions so we have that person on standby at any given time. Like I said since we have explained this to family, the families that we have dealt with so far they don’t seem to have a problem with it. They understand the level of security that protects the KHMH, that protects the family and it also protects us at Paulinos Funeral Home. So they’re fully aware of the measures and they understand.”

Love News understands that this week representatives of the KHMH will meet with the various funeral homes. Additionally, our newsroom has confirmed that the hospital has met with baby Aaron’s parents, Aaron Allen and Noemi Guerra.