Medical examiner kept baby brain

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NEW YORK, July 23 (UPI) -- A New York City mother said she was shocked to find out the city medical examiner's office kept her baby's brain after an autopsy.

Cindy Bradshaw and her husband received a call from Dr. Rachel Lange, of the medical examiner's office, on May 4, alerting them that their infant son Gianni's brain was still at the medical examiner's office, the New York Post reported Monday.

The call came in just hours after Gianni's funeral and four days after his body was picked up from the medical examiner.

"She said, 'Oh, I forgot to tell you the brain was missing,'" Bradshaw said of her conversation with Lange. "And she said that like she had known me for many years and we were having a casual conversation."

The brain was returned to Bradshaw and her husband, who had to pay additional costs to have it cremated.

"I was really shocked," said Bradshaw, who recently filed a claim against the city, the medical examiner's office and Lange.

Bradshaw was even more shocked to find out her son was at least the fourth person whose brain had been kept without their families' knowledge by the medical examiner's office after an autopsy.

"This is wrong, and somebody needs to do something about it. Something needs to change," said Bradshaw. "Someone's not doing their job."

A spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office said only that "the city shares its greatest sympathy with the family on their loss."