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Woman is furious after father’s body moved from hospital without family’s consent

A BC Supreme Court judge says Fraser Health violated a 39-year old woman's Charter rights by detaining her unlawfully for eleven months. She spent some of that time at Delta Hospital.
A BC Supreme Court judge says Fraser Health violated a 39-year old woman's Charter rights by detaining her unlawfully for eleven months. She spent some of that time at Delta Hospital. Fraser Health

A Metro Vancouver woman is furious after her father’s body was moved from Delta Hospital’s morgue by Delta Funeral Home without the family’s consent.

“They go, ‘Oh we just want you to know that we’ve picked up your father from Delta Hospital from the morgue and he’s with us now’ and I said ‘what?’”

After her father, Tom Smallwood, died on Jun. 16, Sherry Smallwood says she never hired Delta Funeral Home.

So, she’s not sure how they managed to remove his body considering she never signed the proper documentation.

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Fraser Health Authority admits protocol wasn’t followed and is now apologizing.

“We have taken steps to remind our staff of our protocols, and reached out to the funeral home involved to make sure that the situation has been resolved,” says spokesperson Tasleem Juma.

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Smallwood says she’s not satisfied with the apology because the stress robbed her of her chance to grieve her father’s death properly.

A spokesperson for Delta Funeral Home says they cannot comment on this specific case.

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