NDP says more freezers added to morgue; health authority says it's not true

While it may be located in an enclosed parking garage and walled off from sight, Newfoundland and Labrador's NDP leader says the morgue at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's has continued to grow and that the provincial government isn't solving the problem of unclaimed bodies.

But, in a statement to CBC News late Friday afternoon, Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services, the provincial health authority, says it hasn't added any. 

NDP Leader Jim Dinn told CBC News a trusted source told him about additional and recently installed freezer units in the hospital's parking garage, where a new and expanded morgue facility is going to be built.

"Maybe there is an attempt to hide the fact that they really haven't made progress on this at all," Dinn said Friday.

"So if the numbers are increasing, they haven't addressed the problem. But they are doing a wonderful job of covering up the problem — or trying to anyway."

In March, CBC News first reported 28 bodies were being stored in freezer units in an alleyway on hospital property due to a lack of space in the actual morgue, which doubles as the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Over the summer, the freezers were relocated to the parking garage and a wall was built around it.

At the time, health authority officials said there were four freezer units. Dinn said he isn't sure how many freezers are currently in the parking garage.

CBC News compared a recent photo, submitted by the NDP, to one taken earlier this summer by CBC News and found that vents had been added to the siding of the structure.

Dinn claimed government hasn't solved the problem. "There was a lot of bluster several months ago, back in spring, all this is going to be resolved. And it's not dignified to have people, you know, on the loading dock in freezers as well," he said. "Well, it's no more dignified than to have them in freezers in a parking garage, either."

In a short statement, Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services spokesperson Mikaela Etchegary indicated Dinn's information is wrong.  

"N.L. Health Services has not recently added any new freezer units at the Health Sciences Centre for unclaimed remains," she wrote.

In July, Children, Seniors and Social Development Minister Paul Pike announced the province was doubling the funeral benefit for residents on income support. However, he also said that it had nothing to do with bodies going unclaimed.

Dinn said that changing the fee structure hasn't worked if more freezers have been added to presumably store more bodies.

CBC News asked Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Nash Denic for comment, but his office pointed all inquiries toward NLHS.

Unknown count

Dinn made the claim a few weeks after PC health critic Barry Petten pushed the government for an update on the morgue during question period at the House of Assembly.

"How many bodies are presently in the parking garage at the Health Sciences Centre?" Petten asked.

Health Minister John Hogan didn't provide the numbers, citing privacy concerns. 

"There are, obviously, a number of bodies there and some which are the responsibility of NLHS [and] some are with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner," Hogan said at the time.

In July, a department official told reporters that there were 30 bodies in storage.

"The number was released at 30, and now, all of a sudden, it is a secret," Petten said.

Dinn also takes issue with Hogan being unwilling to release the number of bodies in storage, especially as the freezers are relocated and blocked from view.

"I think it's more about protecting themselves from embarrassment more than anything else," Dinn said.

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