OREBRO, Sweden, June 19 (UPI) -- A patient in a Swedish hospital who had no relatives died in the intensive care unit and the body was then left in a visitation room for days, officials said.
A deceased patient is customarily left in a visitation room at the Orebro University Hospital in Orebro for as long as six hours and is then brought to a pathologist, but the body wasn't discovered until five days later when another deceased patient was brought in, TheLocal.se reported Wednesday.
The patient died soon after being admitted in late May to the intensive care unit, but since no one came to visit, the hospital staff forgot the body was in the room, TheLocal.se reported.
Anders Nydahl, head of the hospital's anesthetics and intensive care unit, said it was "terribly unfortunate and the fact that the patient lacked relatives is a factor but it still should not have happened."
"Things happen to the body and had the room temperature been higher, the consequences would have been worse. In this case, not much had happened to the body," he said.
The hospital is investigating the incident and the ward has improved its procedures to avoid similar occurrences in the future, TheLocal.se said.
