Fri Sep 20 06:06:03 UTC 2024: ## Mum to Rebury Son for Third Time After Hospital Admits Storing DNA Without Consent
**Bury St Edmunds, UK** – June Dunn, a mother from Fordham, Cambridgeshire, is preparing to rebury her son, Ben Mallia, for the third time after discovering a London hospital had been storing his DNA without her permission.
Ben, who died in 1997 at the age of 12 from a rare brain disease, had his organs, including his brain, removed without his family’s consent. While June was aware of the organ removal, she was unaware that Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital had been storing six vials of Ben’s DNA.
“It’s just mentally draining, it’s heart-breaking,” June shared, expressing her anguish over the situation. She feels like she’s reliving a nightmare and wants the samples returned to her son, considering them an integral part of who he was.
The hospital trust has apologized for any distress caused to Ben’s family and confirmed that the DNA samples were stored as standard practice for potential future testing. However, no further research or testing had been conducted since 1990.
June is now planning to rebury Ben in Bury St Edmunds Cemetery once the DNA samples are returned to her. She is also pursuing the return of samples from two other hospitals, hoping to finally lay her son to rest without further disruptions.
“It’s very unfair for any parent to have to bury their child once, but to have to bury your son twice and now a third time – I don’t want it to get to a fourth, fifth and sixth,” June emphasized.
This latest development has re-triggered June’s PTSD, adding to the emotional turmoil she has endured since her son’s passing. She hopes this will be the final burial and is seeking a public inquiry to uncover the full extent of what happened to Ben’s remains across the hospitals involved.
L Fulcher Funeral Directors in Bury St Edmunds has generously offered to collect the vials from London and rebury Ben at no cost to June.
First Piper 