Solutions coming for unclaimed bodies in storage outside Newfoundland hospital

Health officials in Newfoundland and Labrador say they are only weeks away from a solution to move unclaimed human remains out of roadside freezers and into a nearby hospital.

A temporary facility inside the Health Sciences Centre in St. John’s will be available in mid-June, to be followed by a "proper" and permanent unit that will be ready in October, according to Ron Johnson, a vice-president at Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services.

A growing number of unclaimed human remains have been held in what officials call temporary and temperature-controlled storage units in a receiving bay outside the Health Sciences Centre in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador’s biggest hospital.

The issue gained prominence in March, when government ministers said they learned about the units and pledged to move quickly to find a more dignified solution.

Ron Johnson, vice-president at Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services. (CTV News)

Johnson said hospital staff aren’t quite certain why more and more human remains are going unclaimed, but explained that they’ve gathered a team of social workers and other support staff to more proactively reach out to family members in hopes of helping to arrange funeral or other end-of-life services.

"We saw this problem creeping up," he said. "Obviously, there’s something that’s shifted in society… we don’t know what’s causing this, but we are seeing that."

Corey Murray, who runs the morgue in St. John’s as part of his role as director of pathology and laboratory medicine, said the pressures on the morgue have been rising in the last "number of years."

"Nothing really stood out as a reason," he said. "It seemed to be… kind of a societal shift."

1,183 human bodies were unclaimed at the end of 2023 — more than double the 438 that were unclaimed in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Ontario Office of the Chief Coroner)

Data compiled by the Office of the Chief Coroner in Ontario shows a similar trend. According to that department, 1,183 human bodies were unclaimed at the end of 2023 — more than double the 438 that were unclaimed in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 24 per cent of those cases, the next of kin are unable to claim bodies because they cannot afford end-of-life services, according to the data.

In another 37 per cent of the cases, hospital staff couldn’t find a next of kin.

Connections for Seniors, a community group based in St. John’s, has become the official listed next of kin for several of its clients, according to Mohamed Abdallah, the group’s executive director.

He said loneliness and isolation are increasingly important issues in the province.

"We see a lot of seniors that are lonely, and that’s translated into other areas of their life," he said. "Not just when they’re living, when they are sick, when they are in hospital."

Even though they are listed as next of kin, as a community group, they don’t have the right to make decisions on burials and funerals. Abdallah said he’d like to see hospital staff be more proactive in asking patients for their choices when they are admitted to health care centres.

"We suggest it’s part of our health care system," he said. "It’s part of our well-being, and it’s also part of respecting eachother as a community."