A handful of British hospitals have reportedly been incinerating the bodies of aborted or miscarried babies to generate power for heating.
Two hospitals — Addenbrooke’s in Cambridge and Ipswich Hospital — burned the bodies at their own “waste to energy” plant as “clinical waste,” the Daily Telegraph reported. A further eight hospitals admitted incinerating fetal remains alongside other rubbish.
In the last two years, at least 15,500 fetal remains were burned at UK hospitals.
The shocking revelations came to light in a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary, the Telegraph reported.
The program discovered that many parents who lose children early in their pregnancy suffer callous treatment by the hospitals and they are frequently asked what they want done with the remains.
According to the documentary, mothers were told by staff at Addenbrooke’s that the remains had been “cremated.” One of the country’s top hospitals, it reportedly incinerated 797 babies below 13 weeks gestation at the “waste to energy” plant. At Ipswich 1,101 fetal remains were burned between 2011 and 2013.
This article originally appeared on news.com.au.