A grieving mother says her daughter is one of dozens of bodies being stored in Newfoundland and Labrador’s largest hospital, lying unclaimed and prolonging the pain her family is going through.
Janice Strickland said the high cost of funerals and government inaction is what’s keeping her daughter in a freezer unit and not buried.
“I never thought that I would have to save to bury my own daughter,” Strickland told CBC News.
In March, CBC News reported 28 bodies were being stored in freezer units outside the Health Sciences Centre due to a lack of space in the morgue, which doubles as the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Still there
Sarah Strickland was only 31 years old when she died, leaving behind three sons, said Strickland. Her daughter was an active person and that they had a close relationship.
“She never got a chance to live her life. You know, there was a lot more there for her,” said Janice Strickland.
Sarah Strickland was found unresponsive on July 8 and Strickland was told by St. Clare’s Mercy Hospital staff that Sarah was brain dead with no chance of recovery, so she decided to take Sarah off life support on July 11. Within minutes, her daughter was dead.
“I thought that maybe it was best that we let her go in peace,” she said.
Her daughter was taken to the Health Sciences Centre for an autopsy, said Strickland, and is still there, in the storage units in the hospital’s underground parking garage, which now has an expanded storage facility.
“They took her over and I believe so, if I’m not mistaken, that she’s still there at this time,” said Strickland.
Strickland said she hasn’t been able to mourn properly.
“I had my little tiny bit of grieving at the hospital with her when I held her in my arms. But since I had left the hospital my head has just been in a spin. I haven’t had time,” she said.
A funeral home told Strickland cremation would cost about $4,000, money her family doesn’t have. Burial is even more expensive, she said, upwards of $13,000. To help cover the expenses of a cremation, her son Ken Stickland started an online fundraiser and she has also asked the provincial government for financial assistance.
Newfoundland and Labrador families on income support can apply for provincial government assistance for up to $2,338 to help with cremation or burial costs, but that figure hasn’t changed in nearly two decades.
Strickland says she was told that since her family started a fundraiser, the government wouldn’t offer any help.
“And I’m asking myself, they’re willing to give me $2,300 — which is not enough to bury my daughter — how am I going to get the rest of it?”
She said she’d prefer a traditional burial but they’re fundraising $4,000 to cover the cost of cremation because it’s the more affordable option.
“It hurts really bad because like I said, I don’t have the funds. If they’re going to do this to me, don’t play head games with me,” Strickland said, choking up.
“I’ll do what I can if I can try to raise what I need for her to have her ashes.”
On top of grappling with the sudden death of her daughter, Strickland said the government has made the situation harder and has left her feeling angry.
“It’s not right, you know. I’m so upset with them, the way they’re treating people. It shouldn’t be happening.”
Just want it to be over
The health authority is building a larger storage freezer facility in the hospital parking garage for the growing number of unclaimed bodies.
Strickland said the government can’t just place these bodies in storage with no plan.
“They’re going to run out of space. They’re going to keep bringing in these freezers to freeze them. It’s going to pile up,” she said.
She wants the public to know what her family is going through and the anxiety from not being able to bury her daughter and the government’s policy
“This has be made public. And if I have to do it, I’ll do it. If I got to raise a little hell, I’ll raise a little hell.”
Strickland said she has to stay strong for her family’s sake as they are still struggling with Sarah’s death.
Her eldest son, David, was in a vehicle collision a few years ago and spent a month in the Health Sciences Centre. Now, she said, he wishes he had died instead to spare Sarah.
“I told him, I said, ‘You can’t do that to yourself.'”
Her other sons Georgie and Ken, are also taking it hard, she said, and her husband can’t grasp what’s happened.
“He sits there and he just breaks down crying. Every time he thinks about it. All I can hear is his cry,” said Strickland, voice heavy with grief.
For now, Strickland said she just wants to get Sarah cremated so she can get her ashes back.
“Let her be on her own now, give her that opportunity to just rest,” Strickland said, eyes welling with tears.
“Like I said, if I have to, I’ll take her ashes. I have no problem with that. I’ll take her home with me…. I just want it to be over.”
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