Minnesota Case Not First of Body Sent Out with Laundry

ST. PAUL (AP) - It's rare when a hospital sends the body of a stillborn baby out with the laundry, but it happens.

The latest case happened at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, where officials on Wednesday apologized after the body of a stillborn boy was found in a sheet at a commercial laundry.

An Associated Press review of news coverage in recent years found accounts of a dozen similar incidents from 1996 through 2009 at hospitals across North America. In some cases the body went through the wash before it was found. Some cases led to legal action.

The AP search also found several other cases where the remains of stillborn babies were allegedly lost, discarded in the trash, disposed of without the family's knowledge or kept indefinitely.