A funeral director in Leeds, England, has been banned from working with hospitals after multiple families reported finding deceased babies in inadequate conditions at her home.
Amie Upton, 38, ran a baby loss support and funeral service called Florrie’s Army, named after her own stillborn daughter in 2017.
However, her services have been marred by controversy after several families alleged that she kept babies’ bodies at her home in unacceptable circumstances.
Zoe Ward, a mother who lost her three-week-old baby boy Bleu in 2021, shared her horrifying experience of finding her son’s body propped up in a baby bouncer “watching” cartoons in Upton’s living room.
Ward had expected professional care for her deceased child, but instead, she was met with a scene that left her “screaming” and feeling “upset and angry”.
Another family reported that their baby’s body was not kept at the correct temperature, and they noticed a strong odor, suggesting that the body had not been stored properly.
The Leeds teaching hospitals NHS trust confirmed that it had been monitoring Upton’s attendance at the city’s two major hospitals since 2021 and has since banned her from its maternity wards and mortuaries.
The trust emphasized that neither Upton nor Florrie’s Army is endorsed or associated with Leeds teaching hospitals. Rabina Tindale, the chief nurse at the trust, stated, “some families have believed services are linked to or supported by the trust. We must be clear that neither Amie Upton or Florrie’s Army is endorsed by, or associated with, Leeds teaching hospitals.”
This incident highlights the lack of regulations governing funeral homes in England and Wales, including how bodies should be handled or stored.
While two professional associations have a joint code of conduct, membership is not compulsory, leaving room for unregulated practices.
The hospitals trust reported that it had been notified of “several serious concerns” over the past few years, which were raised with the police, external safeguarding services, relevant regulators, and the coroner’s office.
In a similar case in the United States, a funeral director was sentenced to 20 years in prison for keeping nearly 190 bodies in a decaying facility.
The owner of Return to Nature Funeral Home, Jon Hallford, was found to have mishandled the bodies and sold fake ashes to families. This case underscores the need for stricter regulations and oversight in the funeral industry to prevent such atrocities.
The ban on Upton serves as a measure to protect families from further distress and ensure that deceased individuals are treated with dignity and respect. As the investigation continues, it remains to be seen whether new regulations will be put in place to govern funeral homes and prevent similar incidents in the future.