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?

Classic British policing.
Could they show any LESS care to women and children?

If you were the parents of the “dead” boy wouldn’t you want the body released for a funeral? How was that aspect handled?

Rude dont judge people for asking something.
I didnt hear about the story until I came across this thread, I've not read about it yet.

So thought I'd ask as it's such a huge mistake to be made.

It's a truly horrific story. My heart goes out to the parents of both boys - it's just an unimaginable scenario.

I do joke with my son that all of his friends look the same. They really do - they're all pretty much the same height, have the same broccoli hairstyle, dark brown hair, same complexion, they wear the same black puffa jacket and jeans... If I see them out and about, they all say hello to me, they're lovely lads, and I'm like, Hi Georg-Harv-Lou... nope. No idea.

So I can understand that if the poor boy had suffered injuries and had swellings, it really might not be obvious... (Grey's Anatomy fans - 007...).

But I just cannot fathom how, in a medical context and with the police very heavily involved, medical records and forensics didn't kick in MUCH sooner. The idea that the lad woke up and told them who he was - it's unreal. How did they declare someone dead, without knowing who that someone was - if the parent can't identify the body, for understandable reasons, how does the coroner without medical records?!

I’ll do what I like thanks.

Me and you both!

But also was the other boy (the actual deceased one) not identified?

As in foster care? The article mentions their parents.

You sound friendly.
If your having a bad day it's ok.
But you continue to judge.

This did happen to our friendship group but back in the 80s. we were 16/17.
There was a horrific accident and my friends parents were informed he'd been killed.
Except he hadn'tt he'd lent his moped to our other friend (hiis best friend) who had been killed, we'd all stayed out that night so it wasn't until friend walked through the door the next morning that the mistake was realised.
It was horrific for all involved, but was only like 12 hours.
Our friend had been horrifically injured so they identified him by jacket, helmet and moped.

Really?

Do you not think the whole situation is off? I mean it can’t be just a police issue?

I’m having a good day actually. And yes, I will. Bit rich considering you were judging the families.

As I said I didn't hear about it until I saw this thread.
So asked.
Further reading no one knows if the poor kid had family.
Lots to read up on a lot of information not out yet.
But feel bad for all involved just awful.

Omg 😧 what a relief for the family whose son just walked in the next day unscathed

I now have a better understanding of how friends and family might not know even if they did visit. Given this possibility though, why don’t the police have a procedure in place to identify people.

The issue here is not how the boy in hospital was not identified, which can happen tragically, but how did they identify the boy who died? If he was so badly injured that he was unrecognisable they should have carried out a DNA test to identify the corpse.

Yep. just watched this and I'm sure many others will have seen it and will say the same - still shocking though

This happened not far from where I live but I only became aware of it by seeing it on here. It turns out that where it happened is a known area for stock car and banger racing. It was a 17 year old girl driving, who was also killed. It's a nightmare all round for their parents but the blame lies solely with the police ans hospital authorities, the two boys don't even look remotely alike.

Exactly this.

people on this thread are being sanctimonious about how they would know their son is the living one on ICU. But the real issue is the systemic failure to ensure correct identification of the sadly deceased lad. And that is also not on any parents.

I think the police are coming in for a bit of a hard time here. It seems no-one could correctly identify the boys, not the police, not their families, not the hospital, or the coroner, or their friends / witnesses to the accident... It just seems like a tragic freak mix up, there may have been very good reason for the initial mistaken identification.

It's unimaginably awful for the families.

The family were there, every day. I think people should stop nitpicking over things they don’t have a clue about, tbh.

I can see how the police got it wrong. I can't see how the mother got it wrong. Either mother :/ Surely if you were told your child was dead it would have to be confirmed via dental records if the body was unrecognisable?

I think thats the heartbreaking bottom line. Nobody got it right.
If they'd both died both families would have dealt with it and been none the wiser to the error.

Read some experiences on this thread from those who have had loved ones in critical condition on life support.

I agree with this. There's no need to look for someone to 'blame' all the time, it was just a really fucking horrible and difficult thing to happen.

As for the people criticising the families - that's just unbelievably crass.

The fact that this is vanishingly rare would suggest that they do take additional steps. All this shoulda/woulda/coulda is pointless. There will be an investigation into how it happened and if there has been a glaring error, it will be dealt with.

The situation is awful for everyone involved. Speculation here doesn’t help.