Our grandmother recently passed away in a private hospital. Within half an hour of our grandmother dying, the nurses told us that we would have only a few hours to have her body removed. That was all the information we were given. For the nurses, it was like a business transaction and they showed us very little sympathy.
It was a shock to hear that it was up to us to remove her body. There was no pamphlet, no prior warning, no discussion and no support. Turns out the private hospital does not have the capacity to store the deceased, they do not have a morgue. We found ourselves needing to make a quick decision about a funeral director, surfing the internet to pick who we wanted and then needing to call the company to arrange for them to come and collect our grandmother.
As a family, we were devastated and in disbelief. We wanted to grieve, not make urgent and uninformed decisions. It would have been nice to have been told that we would need to make arrangements prior to her passing so we could be prepared when the time finally came. We expected a little more compassion.
