# Baby in a bottle **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 21, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240 "2004-07-21T20:32:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/1 "2004-07-21T20:32:56Z")
I really have no idea what to say to this except what the FUCK were these people thinking? > [@](#): > > [From the article:](http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/12076861?source=PA) > > A 14-year-old girl was handed her stillborn baby in a plastic specimen bottle and told to take it home by staff at a flagship hospital. > > The teenager’s shocked parents put the 11-week-old foetus in the family fridge before complaining to hospital bosses. > > Staff at Bishop Auckland Hospital, in County Durham, gave the girl no explanation as to why she had to take the stillborn child home as they handed her the jar. Forget the fact that the girl was 14, who the hell gives a woman who just went through the pain of a miscarriage their child to take home in a specimen bottle? ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/2 "2004-07-21T21:04:57Z")
:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/3 "2004-07-21T21:07:26Z")
Is this part of that “No Child Left Behind” thing I keep hearing about? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/4 "2004-07-21T21:08:30Z")
I thought what the mom said was a bit telling: > [@](#): > > “We knew our daughter was pregnant. She was looking forward to having the baby after what happened to me. Now she is devastated.” The mom just lost her baby the article stated… It makes me wonder if the girl tried to get pregnant on purpose to fill the void. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/5 "2004-07-21T21:11:50Z")
It’s quite possible, _stpauler_. I don’t think it’s good she was pregnant at 14, but I can’t imagine the pain she’s in right now having lost a child and this happening ☹ ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/6 "2004-07-21T21:42:48Z")
This is way, way worse than [bonsaikitten.com](http://bonsaikitten.com). ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/7 "2004-07-21T22:21:11Z")
> [@neuroman](#): > > This is way, way worse than [bonsaikitten.com](http://bonsaikitten.com). Especially since that’s, you know, _fake_. If they can’t incinerate the fetus, they should at least use it for medical students. This would be more understandable if it happened at a Catholic hospital that refused to perform abortions or in, say, Florida. Then it could be related to their belief that life begins at conception and that all people deserve the Christian burial and all that nonsense. But a London hospital with no mentioned relgious affiliation? Beggars belief. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/8 "2004-07-21T22:45:25Z")
Jeez… Methinks someone needs to lose their job over this. Or get a good flogging, at least. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/9 "2004-07-21T22:49:44Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > Is this part of that “No Child Left Behind” thing I keep hearing about? :eek: ::snork:: I shouldn’t be laughing. I shouldn’t be laughing. I shouldn’t be laughing. Shame on us both. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/10 "2004-07-21T22:58:02Z")
Make that three of us. It’s so wrong to laugh but I couldn’t help it. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/11 "2004-07-21T22:59:38Z")
Shame on me as well **Dogzilla** Has this sort of thing ever happened befor? Is it part of the procedure to ask the mother if she wants to keep the dead Foetus, in the same way they might ask if someone wants to keep the tumour that is removed from them? I guess there may be a system that allows someone to religiously burry a failed fetus to help them deal with their grief. Still this was not the thing this girl wanted to happen in this case, and systems need to be fixed and people chastised to see this doesn’t happen again. Still, I wouldn’t want to see someone lose their job over this, since that person would be a medically skilled person who could save many lives in the future, whilst this is very upsetting, no-one was endangered by it. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/12 "2004-07-21T23:03:32Z")
Man! And to think, my dentist wouldn’t even let me keep my wisdom teeth after he yanked them! ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/13 "2004-07-21T23:15:19Z")
Life happens, Death happens, why are we shielded from it? Is making death clinical and removed from our everyday lives helping or hurting society and humanity? This is real life folks, miscarriages happen, deaths happen, we would like to think otherwise, but it’s not reality. Maybe not letting the mother (underaged or not) see the miscarriaged baby would lead to more respect for human life. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/14 "2004-07-22T00:18:36Z")
Well I guess since they couldn’t use it for live organ donations they decided to give it to her. Silly Brits. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/15 "2004-07-22T00:33:26Z")
“Beats me how they did it, but I got the whole thing at a garage sale for only $5, and that includes the stand.” ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/16 "2004-07-22T00:37:37Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > “Beats me how they did it, but I got the whole thing at a garage sale for only $5, and that includes the stand.” Yet another person whose first thought on reading the thread title was Gary Larson. We’re sick, sick people… ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/17 "2004-07-22T01:01:00Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Life happens, Death happens, why are we shielded from it? Is making death clinical and removed from our everyday lives helping or hurting society and humanity? > > This is real life folks, miscarriages happen, deaths happen, we would like to think otherwise, but it’s not reality. Maybe not letting the mother (underaged or not) see the miscarriaged baby would lead to more respect for human life. Indeed… Some months ago my grandmother died, would it be OK if the doctors had told me to take its preserved body home with me? I´d really would have appreciated the value of (her) live much more then. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/18 "2004-07-22T01:50:00Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > This is real life folks, miscarriages happen, deaths happen, we would like to think otherwise, but it’s not reality. Maybe not letting the mother (underaged or not) see the miscarriaged baby would lead to more respect for human life. So, correct me if I’m wrong, you are implying that having a misscariage is due to not having enough respect for human life and showing this girl her dead baby would somehow make her value life more? Talk about tough love…‘See hear young lady’ [thrusts feotus in a bottle at her] ‘THIS is what happens when you don’t take precautions, now you just take this home and think about that for a while madam!’ ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/19 "2004-07-22T03:13:45Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > Shame on me as well **Dogzilla** > > Has this sort of thing ever happened befor? Is it part of the procedure to ask the mother if she wants to keep the dead Foetus, in the same way they might ask if someone wants to keep the tumour that is removed from them? > I guess there may be a system that allows someone to religiously burry a failed fetus to help them deal with their grief. Still this was not the thing this girl wanted to happen in this case, and systems need to be fixed and people chastised to see this doesn’t happen again. Still, I wouldn’t want to see someone lose their job over this, since that person would be a medically skilled person who could save many lives in the future, whilst this is very upsetting, no-one was endangered by it. With a stillbirth? I would imagine normally yes, provisions are made in case the family wishes to bury it. Burying stillborn children (you know, with a funeral and everything, as though they’re _actual people_) is fairly common. I mean, not to sound all ‘respect for human life’ and shit (because I have very little of it) but it’s not strange that the hospital would offer the remains to the family. It’s quite usual to grieve after a stillbirth, and to the family it’s not just a ‘tumor’ - the formalized grieving rituals we use are helpful to a lot of folks, religious or no. However, handing a _specimen bottle_ full of dead baby to a fourteen year old girl is clearly grossly inappropriate, and someone’s ass should probably get fired for it. I don’t think that’s how it’s normally done. And it would be rather freaky to reach into the fridge for a diet coke and see a bottled baby looking back at you. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240/20 "2004-07-22T03:29:15Z")
“Baby in a bottle” would be a great band name! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/baby-in-a-bottle/256240.md?page=2)