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?

Perhaps the dc was badly burned on the body or wrapped up etc so hard to be able to tell anything without them saying. I imagine the only way to be able to look and see is if you can see their hands, face etc. But if they are all bandaged up, covered in tubes....you might not notice....you would not be thinking let me investigate if this is my child or not, you just want to hope and beleive.....the thought would probably not cross your mind unless there was an obvious reason for this. I would not go looking under the covers or bandages unless I had a doubt, as I would not want to injure the patient further.

My daughter is 16. She has no “dental records”. She’s never had anything other than a check up.

Not sure what your point is, factually this isn't your situation. Is it that the family is inferior to you ?

Please, please read the experiences of those who’ve seen a loved one in this condition and stop being so judgmental

Do people not get how disorienting it can be to visit someone in hospital in horrific circumstances? God forbid if it was your own child. My friend was in a coma after a car accident when we were about 15 and we knew it was her because there wasn't any doubt, all involved were easily identified - but even without the kinds of horrific injuries you can see in those circumstances she did have a traumatic brain injury and was bloated and puffy and her face was different. When she eventually went to rehab and then came home she was different. Her face, her body, the way she moved, the way she spoke when she was able to do so again - her whole voice. So while it was her, it also didn't seem quite like her. And she had so much equipment around her. It really fucks with your head.

My BFF from school was in a really bad car accident aged 18. We were very close, spent most days together and we were more like sisters.
When I visited her in ICU for the first time (parents hoped hearing my voice might help) I had no idea which one of the beds she was in until I saw her Mum.
Her Mum said "you didn't recognise her did you? Neither did I"
I would not have thought it was possible but only her very swollen face was visible, head and body covered with sheets and bandages.

Actually there is a resemblance as both were of a similar build and facial features. That combined with injuries and perhaps wearing very similar clothing, I can understand there may initially be some confusion as to who was dead and who was unconscious.

But not for three weeks!

very sad that Joshua had his life cut short in this way.

Going to guess both boys were massively disfigured and that the surviving boy was heavily bandaged throughout his coma.

Would think that the NHS may now need to consider DNA testing to identify in similar such cases - the risks of, for example, prescribing the wrong and dangerous medication as a result of not having the correct medical records is huge.

This was what I thought too! THREE WEEKS

The check ups create dental records. The dentist records tooth eruption patterns, bite alignment, fillings/lack thereof and gum health, with basic charts of which teeth are present and notes of any anomalies. Private dentists often x-ray patients as a matter of course when they register.

Young people's records are less complete, and so probably couldn't be used to provide definitive ID, but they would still give very useful identifying information to support other methods.

I didn't recognise my aunt in ICU. She could have been anyone.

The same thing happened in Austria and was discovered after five months when the teenager came out of the coma speaking the wrong language. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1479662/

I used to work as an operating theatre nurse, and I still remember one patient we had whose facial injuries were so bad that they were unrecognisable.

I am assuming that the parents of the boy who died had identified him, as had the parents of the boy who survived, and it wouldn't have been unreasonable for the hospital staff to trust those identifications. It is an awful situation for all concerned, but I don't see any blame to anyone involved. I'm sure they all did their best.

My heart goes out to the families. It's an awful thing to have happened.

All of those saying that they would never not know their child, have clearly never been in a situation where their child has sustained the level of injury we're talking about here. If you had, then you'd know that you cannot underestimate how trauma and injury can change someone's appearance. Hair can be missing. Hands face and feet can be completely unrecognisable due to severe swelling and injury. The only way that you stand a chance in these situations, is if they have really obvious identifiers which are still visible and accessible - like birth marks or tattoos, or obvious physical differences like a missing finger!

Ive been an ICU nurse for 30 yrs and seen it once ,in that instance forensic identification was initiated immediately in an unidentifiable circumstance.
I'm interested in why in the unlikely but not impossible circumstance this person was unidentifiable to family, the person was incorrectly identified by Police.
Something has gone very,very wrong here.

Those are her dental records. Records of her dentistry. Most sixteen year olds have only had check ups at the dentists.

So I read a book by a famous pathologist who said in mass disasters it's way, way more common than you'd expect.

I can totally understand how the boy in the coma wasn't identified - from what people have said on here - my cousin was in hospital on steroids for a non injury reason and I didn't recognise him from a photo.
What I'm confused about is how the body was not identified using DNA or dental records. My DCs have dental records e.g. which teeth have appeared etc. But DNA would be more certain.

This absolutely.
totally understand how a badly injured kid in ICU can be misidentified.

But the lad who died, surely it would have been an initial ID at crash site, and then taken to the hospital/ morgue and that ID confirmed or checked?
Doesn't every dead body have to be ID'd by relatives?

At that point, you would expect everyone to say - too badly injured to identify, so we will confirm with DNA/dental etc etc? At that point the parents of deceased could have been asked about moles or identifying marks?

I am astonished that an initial ID at the crash site is never verified.

Those poor parents on both sides, how totally awful for everyone

Sounds like they both had horrific injuries, maybe they were told one was the driver and in fact the other was.

It's a crazy story, for sure. Why didn't the injured boy's parents notice that it wasn't their DS? I'd know my kids anywhere and in pretty much any state. Terrible story though for both families😥

Have you ever seen someone in the icu? All the tubes obstructing their face. Blood in the hair makes to look darker and matted. Any swelling changes the shape of the face. My cousin was in the ICU for a while and my aunt said the only part she recognised was her eyes when she woke up. And that was only really because they're bright blue.

Exactly this. I think it’s really unfair to blame hospital/mortuary staff who had no reason to query the ID nor complete dental or other ID checks.

The police have apologised and admitted it was their mistake. That’s where it happened.

Awful for both families.

Just thank your lucky stars that you're able to sit there being smug and superior and imagining what you would be able to do rather than living through the hell these parents are going through.

I acknowledged the hell that the poor parents are going through in my post, but I guess you didn't read that bit.