The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is Blacktown Hospital in Australia. Back in May a mother gave birth to a stillborn girl named Angelina as they were on the way to the hospital. Days later when the family went to arrange a funeral for the girl it was discovered Angelina's body was missing. An investigation is currently underway, but it looks like the Hopsital threw the baby away in the trash one executive admitted.

Horrible, painful carelessness and stupidity. Did anyone at the hospital think? It's a painful enough experience for a parent to lose a child, I know from personal experience. To have it compounded by blundering incompetence and I've experienced that too after Daniel's death. The hospital turned in a birth certificate for my son without his name on it and then when I confronted them about it I was told we hadn't chosen a name for our boy. The NICU, my wife's nurses, the doctor, all knew Daniel's name. It makes you want to scream at how insensitive people can be.

All I say is Blacktown Hospital is a very deserving knucklehead of the day.

Open Post- Cao's Blog, Jo's Cafe, Basil's Blog, Bright & Early, Mudville Gazette,

THE heartbroken parents of the stillborn baby girl who went missing from a Sydney hospital are bracing themselves for the worst possible news - their daughter was accidentally thrown away.

Blacktown Hospital's most senior executive has told the family the most likely scenario is the baby was disposed of in "a tragic mistake".

The 33-year-old mother from Western Sydney gave birth to a girl she later named Angelina in an ambulance on the way to Blacktown Hospital three weeks ago.

Nine days later she was told by a hospital priest that the baby had "gone missing".

The Daily Telegraph yesterday asked Western Sydney Area Health Service chief executive Stephen Boyages if he expected the investigation would conclude Angelina had been disposed of and he was forced to concede this was the most likely scenario.

"I have indicated to the parents that is my expectation," he said.

"We unreservedly apologise for what appears to be a tragic mistake."

The distressed father of the baby said yesterday the family is desperate for an explanation.

"We don't know who we can trust. We can't trust anybody," he said.

The family said they had come to terms with the death of their daughter but could never recover from the loss of her body and added "life could not be that cruel".

"We have nothing left," they said in a statement. Angelina's parents are owed answers about her disappearance, New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma said today.

Mr Iemma sent his condolences to the family and reiterated an apology delivered by Health Minister John Hatzistergos yesterday.

"This is a terrible tragedy and again I want to reinforce the apology of the minister and extend my condolences for this tragedy," Mr Iemma said on Macquarie Radio.

"What we need is to get to the bottom of what happened and the family is owed (that)."

"That's why we've got an investigation. The family's owed that. They're owed truthful answers and we are determined to ensure that they get it."

Despite four investigations into the disappearance, Blacktown Hospital is still clueless as to how the mistake could have been made and are calling the blunder "a systems error".

"Our systems have not been strong enough," Professor Boyages said.

"We will leave no stone uncovered until we determine how this situation can arise."

Yet The Daily Telegraph understands hospital staff knew the baby was missing on May 19 - five days after she was born - but did not tell the family until three days later.

Opposition spokeswoman Jillian Skinner said the baby's disappearance has been "shrouded in secrecy".

An internal hospital report was handed to the State Government last Friday but was unable to even get the baby's birthdate or age correct.

"We know the birthdate was May 14, we know that the baby was stillborn at 24 weeks," Professor Boyages said.

But the mother actually gave birth on May 13 and has said Angelina was 28 weeks old.

An investigation is being conducted by an independent party who will deliver their findings on Tuesday.

Cross posted to Bullwinkle Blog