Nunavut family calls for apology over hospital's treatment of mother's body

The daughter of an Igloolik woman who died in Iqaluit's hospital says nurses tagged and wrapped her mother's body in plastic in front of her — and then left her body in the morgue for nine days while the family waited to find out when her body would be sent home for burial.

Jeela Palluq-Cloutier, the daughter of Eunice Palluq, is calling for an apology from Nunavut's health department over the treatment of Palluq's body.

Eunice, 75, was medevac'd to Iqaluit from Igloolik in August. She died Sept. 13 of lung cancer.

In an Oct. 3 letter to Health Minister John Main, Palluq-Cloutier wrote that the family was grateful for the care she received at the Qikiqtani General Hospital, but "disturbed" by what happened after she died.

Palluq-Cloutier said she and her family dressed Eunice's body "so she could be taken away with dignity," only to have the nurses tag her body and wrap her in a plastic bag right in front of Eunice's children and spouse.

"This was quite unusual and very disturbing," Palluq-Cloutier wrote to Main.

Family members had to leave the room, she said, because they couldn't bear the sight.

What happened in the days that followed disturbed them even more.

A brochure from the hospital, provided to CBC by Nunavut's health department, says it's the family's responsibility to call the funeral home to pick up a body. But Palluq-Cloutier says that information was never provided to her, and Qikiqtani Funeral Services says it's the hospital that usually makes that call, not families.

The brochure also says that transportation for deaths occurring on medical travel — like Eunice's — can be arranged through the medical travel team. The hospital asks that arrangements be made within four days. Palluq-Cloutier says the medical travel office booked her mother's medical escorts to return home, but not her body. 

Eunice's body lay in the morgue for nine days before the undertaker happened, by chance, to find her when he came to pick up a different body.

Palluq-Cloutier said after her mother's death, her family expected her body to be sent home to Igloolik for burial. Days and weeks passed without word.

In an interview with CBC, Palluq-Cloutier said the family trusted hospital staff to take care of Eunice's body properly and make sure she was sent home.

Eventually, as Palluq-Cloutier tried to find out what had happened to Eunice's body, she called the coroner, who passed her on to the undertaker.