St James's Hospital in Dublin is to investigate allegations that the bodies of babies were placed in the coffins of deceased adults.
The hospital has also confirmed that until the early 1980s, foetuses of less than 28 weeks' gestation were incinerated by a process "similar to cremation".
A spokesman said yesterday that the chief executive, Mr John O'Brien, would immediately begin "a full look-back" into the burial of deceased babies.
He was responding to a report in the Sunday Independent that until the early 1980s, the bodies of babies were wrapped and placed in coffins at the feet of adults.
This was to ensure a proper burial for the babies while sparing the parents the distress and expense of a funeral, the report said.
The spokesman said the hospital's first reaction to the allegations was that they could not be correct. However, it had now decided to launch a "look-back" to 1971, when St James's was constituted in its present form.
The hospital understood that the allegation concerned events which happened before 1980. The revelation that the remains of foetuses below 28 weeks' gestation had been dealt with "by a process of special incineration similar to cremation" arose from reports that the parents of a baby girl born prematurely in 1980, and who died shortly afterwards, could not find out what had happened to the body.
The woman is understood never to have seen her baby and believes she was not sent for burial.
Yesterday, the hospital issued the following statement:
"Following recent media reports claiming that St James's Hospital may have lost a baby's body in February 1980, senior representatives from the hospital met with the parents on Thursday, March 2nd. Prof John Bonner, consultant obstetrician at the hospital from 01/01/83 to 30/09/99, who was present at the meeting, reviewed the case records and explained the full circumstances surrounding the case and the procedures that were followed. The hospital has also offered to provide counselling and support services to the woman and her family, if required. In the interests of patient confidentiality, the hospital cannot elaborate on the particulars of this case.
"However, as the reporting of the case may have distressed other parents who attended the maternity unit which operated up until September 3rd, 1987, prior to its transfer to the Coombe Hospital, the hospital wishes to confirm the following:
"In 1980, a pregnancy had to progress to 28 weeks before a birth could legally be registered.
"With the consent of the mother, it was the practice of the nursing staff in the delivery ward to baptise all miscarriages and/or stillbirths.
"In 1980, it was not hospital practice to have a burial service for a foetus of less than 28 weeks' gestation unless specifically requested by the family. Hospital practice at that time was for the remains to be individually dealt with by a process of special incineration similar to cremation on the hospital premises. This was in accordance with practice throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom.
"Where parents expressed the wish to make other arrangements, these were accommodated by the hospital.
"Throughout the early 1980s, following widespread recognition that women who had suffered a miscarriage or stillbirth required significant support and counselling to help them to grieve for their loss, specific practices evolved which were implemented in St James's which took into consideration the psychological effects of the loss for mothers.
"If any parents wish to contact the hospital for more information please contact Mr Ian Carter, deputy chief executive officer, at 01-4162135. All concerns will be treated in confidence and sensitively."
Email: pomorain@irish-times.ie