How did no one notice the wrong boy was alive for 3 weeks

[NewYearss]

So in Yorkshire the police have mixed up two boys, one who died in a crash and one on life support. They told the wrong family their boy had died and the other that their son was still alive.
I just don’t understand how this wasn’t picked up for three weeks. Surely the family visiting the wrong boy in hospital would notice straight away?

I’ve just seen this - If it was in a film you’d think far fetched!
Has no one visited the 17yr old for three weeks, and no one viewed and identified the body of the deceased boy? I thought that was standard, or maybe I’ve watched too many tv police dramas!

Perhaps they looked very similar and or have severe facial injuries? Very odd though. Must be so hard on the families.

It's truly awful but I would imagine that their facial injuries were very severe and possibly be of them was carrying something that belonged to the other that identified them

Just read a sky news report that says the teen in hospital woke up and told them who he was. So he can’t have been that badly injured.

He was on life support for three weeks - I think he probably was pretty injured!

It’s so bizarre isn’t it? I want to know more. Especially why the lad in intensive care wasn’t visited by anyone who realised? I mean even if one of my loved ones was in a bad accident I’m pretty sure I’d know their hands or other body apart from their face.

Are you taking the piss?

He was in a coma from the 13th of December until the 5th January fgs.

Both boys are of similar stature and have similar hair styles. They must have had horrific facial injuries, and probably head injuries, which would have potentially caused swelling and disfigurement. Add in the tubes etc on the one in hospital’s face then it might have been difficult for his parents to notice. One might have been wearing the other one’s jacket or looking after his wallet so they might have mixed up ID.

It’s an awful situation all round and I feel so sorry for all involved.

It’s almost unbelievable isn’t it :( their poor families.

I read this too and thought it was extremely odd. Pleased it’s not just me.

You wouldn’t think things like that would happen, especially in this day and age. Even if they were identical in every way (which would be very hard to believe unless they are separated twins), you would have thought dental records, blood tests, something might have identified them by now.
Awful for the poor families involved.

I caught a bit of the story earlier and thought it had been mistaken identity for a few hours - not three weeks. Bloody hell. That’s horrific

This is almost unbelievable. How similar would they have to be that no family member noticed? The clothes they were wearing? Freckles, birthmarks? The smell, feel of them. I don't believe I would mistake any of mine for a millisecond, no matter how injured.

Tbf a lot of teenage boys do looks very similar, same clothes, same haircuts, they’re unlikely to have have other identifiers such as tattoos or scars I can see how the police/medics could have easily made an error.

What I can’t understand is why the families didn’t notice!

How awful for their families.

Something similar happens on an episode of House MD. Two women are in a building explosion, one survives with very bad facial injuries and the wrong family sit with her for a week before learning that their daughter/girlfriend was actually the woman who died.

Clothes would have been cut off for medical treatment. Smell?! Have you ever been to hospital or visited intensive care? No one smells normal, the medication makes everyone smell very different. No one is inspecting bodies for birthmarks in intensive care.

Some of you have clearly been lucky to never see anyone with severe facial swelling and bruising plus ventilator tubes etc. Potential burns etc.

I can completely see how this could happen. I saw a motorbike accident in the bed next to me and the guy was a mess, you couldn't even tell if he still had a nose.

But if they were that similar in every way you would have thought intensive tests would have been done there and then to establish which one was definitely which. It’s like they’ve flipped a coin and guessed which one was which instead!

You dont need to be jumping on people so aggressively. They are asking reasonable questions. Appreciate your input though and likely that's the case.

The question is be asking is how the initial identification was made. I can see how after that it may not have been obvious if there were significant facial injuries and the poor lad was covered in medical equipment

The horror for the family of the other boy must be so much worse than finding out he died on the day of the accident

I'm amazed that so many people find this hard to believe to be honest. Clearly there was a reason to assume boy A was boy B - eg wallet of A in Bs pocket, B driving when it should have been A etc.

If the boys looked vaguely similar and had facial injuries and based on what seemed like definitive proof A was B, there's no reason why hospital staff would be checking dental records or blood to identify the boy.

It's a very sad misunderstanding that will have caused huge pain to both families but it's just one of those freak things that can happen.

I can understand two teens looking incredibly similar, I can understand injuries making it very difficult to tell, I get all that-it's hard to identify them.

What I don't get is that despite all that difficulty and ambiguity telling which was which, someone HAS just decided! Based on what?

Surely, there should be a lot more-'there are a lot of injuries so we are still identifying them'?!

Rather than just assuming and announcing that!

Got to love it when something so tragic happens, and good old MNers use the story to come on and tell us all how they would never have that happen because they are just so much better than the people actually going through it.

My heart absolutely goes out to the families involved. Tragic for both families.

However just to add on -

If my son was on life support or dead and I couldn't recognize him due to horrendous injuries, I'd be asking for complete evidence of dental records or such confirming his identity.

Especially if you knew he looked identical to the boy he was with!

Without knowing how they decided though we can't say whether it was an understandable mistake

If the wrong boy was driving maybe it's fair that they made it based on the position in the car but if both were say flung out or passengers how did they decide?

Exactly this

The issue isn't "why didn't anyone notice the injured youngster wasn't X" , it's how could they declare the wrong person dead!!
That's where dental records etc come into play.
I can totally understand how it's possible to believe the injured person in a coma is your loved one. How often have we heard people say things like "their injuries were so horrific they were unrecognisable" in accounts of serious accident , or assault on TV.
But there are procedures in place to make certain a dead body is correctly identified!
What an unbelievably traumatic situation for everyone.