Disposed of as a specimen

Disposed of as a specimen”

Mother settles lawsuit over disposal of her aborted baby as medical waste

Los Angeles County has settled a lawsuit filed against it by a woman whose aborted child was tossed out as medical waste even though she had asked that the baby be returned to her for a proper burial.

Yolanda Garnett, 36, underwent an abortion on Feb. 20, 2006 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and requested that, following an autopsy, the infant’s body be sent back to her so she could bury it. Instead, the county coroner disposed of the aborted child as hazardous medical waste.

Garnett filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Sept. 25, 2007 alleging negligence by the coroner and the county mortuary. The suit sought more than $25,000 in damages.

The lawsuit did not specify how the child died, but the second of two autopsies revealed the cause of death as abortion, according to a response filed by the county. The aborted baby was 19 weeks old at the time of death, said attorneys for the county, and under such circumstances, California law does not permit issuance of a death certificate and a permit for burial or cremation could not be issued.

"Under those circumstances the remains could not be released to the next of kin, so the fetal remains were disposed of as a specimen per Department of Coroner policy," said the county's response to the suit.

Documents filed in the case indicate a settlement was reached between Garnett and the county on July 9, but terms of the settlement were not made public, nor were the circumstances surrounding the abortion.

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