Family's NHS payout after Stratford river tragedy five years ago
THE mother of Cameron Whelan who drowned in the River Avon in Stratford almost five years ago has been paid damages for PTSD caused when she learnt his body wasn’t frozen in a mortuary and decomposed so badly she and her family were advised not to see the body before burial.
Cameron Whelan, aged 26, from the Moseley area of Birmingham,
entered the river close to the main RSC theatre after he was pursued by two police officers on the evening of Friday, 25th May 2018 following a series of incidents around town.
A major search and rescue operation continued throughout the Bank Holiday weekend until his body was recovered by dive teams on the Tuesday evening.
Cameron’s mother, Deborah Whelan, and brothers, Dadlin and Patrick Whelan, have all been paid damages by University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust which runs the mortuary in Coventry where staff did not freeze Mr Whelan’s body after his death.
His body was taken to the Coventry Mortuary on 31st May where it was kept until 25th October when it was released to funeral directors in preparation for a burial service on 9th November.
The family was told about the severity of the body’s decomposition in October and advised not to view it to avoid even further distress.
The shocking sequence of events lead to Deborah, Dadlin and Patrick being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder which included anxiety and depression. They were eventually paid damages by the NHS Trust in an out-of-court settlement. The trust also apologised to the family and reviewed its processes so that steps were immediately taken to address issues raised.
Deborah Whelan told the Herald: “When Cameron died, all we wanted to do was arrange his funeral to say our goodbyes. But we couldn’t. We had been thrust into a world we knew nothing about. Then came the awful email from the IOPC. The hospital asked if the family wish to freeze Cameron’s body now his heart was due to be repatriated. I honestly could not believe this was happening to us. The email explained how badly decomposed he was and wasn’t viewable. The images that I was having of my poor son lying in a fridge for five and a half months rotting away, of staff walking past leaking body bags, of the smell that must have been there, didn’t they notice or didn’t they care? Does this happen often or is this an exceptional incident? The worst was thinking that another human being could watch a body in their care decompose beyond recognition, how is this possible?”
But there was to be more heartache for Deborah and her family before they could lay Cameron to rest which contributed to the PTSD they suffered.
“The day before the funeral, we arranged to visit the funeral home to sit with Cameron’s sealed coffin to pray and leave mementos for the director to place inside his coffin. When I walked into the room the smell was overpowering (bearing in mind he was still inside a so called non porous body bag) despite several air fresheners in the room. I couldn’t stay long. I kept thinking my poor son what had they done to you? How could they let you get in this state? It was heart wrenching.
The day of the funeral was worse, there’s that smell again, only this time others could smell it too. I saw several people covering their mouths and noses. It was terrible. It took months for that smell to leave me, it felt like it was all over my clothes and ingrained in my nostrils. I will never forget that smell and that’s the last memory I have of Cameron, the smell of his rotting body.” Deborah said.
“We as a family will never get over this, nothing can make the nightmares go away. Even words upset me now and ‘dignity’ is the worst.
I feel numb when I visit Cameron’s grave, I can’t help but wonder did I bury my son? Unless we reopen his grave for DNA testing we will never be 100 per cent sure. We spent what seemed like a lifetime waiting to lay him to rest, we cannot disturb him now,” Deborah Whelan said.
