Las Vegas hospital sends miscarried fetuses out with laundry
Workers at a Henderson laundry facility were startled Tuesday morning to find two 16-week-old fetuses in a shipment of linen from an area hospital.
Henderson police spokeswoman Kathleen Richards said detectives determined the twin fetuses arrived with laundry from Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center. It’s unclear how they were mixed with the linen, she said.
She initially called the twins “stillborn,” but the Review-Journal has learned the fetuses were 16 weeks into development, making it a miscarriage. Fetuses at this stage of development are about 4.5 inches long and have eyes and ears, according to the Mayo Clinic.
“We are currently reviewing the situation to determine what occurred. However, the remains are currently in the hospital’s possession, and we are working with the family at this time,” the hospital said in a statement.
A Henderson official told the Review-Journal that workers found the remains in a laundry truck at the Angelica Corporation, 1080 Mary Crest Rd., at about 10 a.m., and called police.
“After suffering a miscarriage at another location, the patient arrived via EMS with twin, early gestational, deceased fetuses. The fetuses had already been wrapped in linen prior to arrival at the hospital,” the hospital statement said.
Richards declined to release a police report on the incident, saying the investigation is ongoing.
Even though police do not suspect a crime was committed, the investigation will remain open until the Clark County coroner’s office confirms a cause of death, she said.
A man who answered the phone at the Angelica Corporation refused to comment on the incident or give his name.
Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center opened in southwest Las Vegas in 2003. The 237-bed hospital at 5400 S. Rainbow Boulevard is a subsidiary of Universal Health Services, Inc., based in King of Prussia, Penn.
Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0391. Find him on Twitter: @WesJuhl
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