A B.C. couple waited weeks to get their stillborn daughter’s remains. Then, they were invoiced for her autopsy – CBC

Expert says lack of standardized care for stillbirths results in errors that traumatize grieving families

May 29, 2025

Nick Bordignon was still deep in grief over the death of his infant daughter last October when an envelope from the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) turned up in his mailbox.

It was addressed to the infant he and his wife had named Makayla Poppy when she was delivered at B.C. Children’s Hospital four weeks earlier following an ultrasound that showed the child was dead.

Inside was an invoice for the cost of an autopsy and an itemized list of tests conducted by a coroner — a bill the PHSA has since admitted the Bordignons were never supposed to see.

And to make matters worse, the letter seemed to indicate Makayla’s body was still in the morgue — two weeks after the autopsy was performed and nearly a month after she was stillborn.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/investigation-medical-invoice-stillbirth-1.7544408