Dead baby is kept frozen for 21 years as parents fight plans for burial

[Jenjie]

The parents of four-month-old Christopher Blum, kept frozen in Hornsey mortuary for 21 years, are seeking an injunction to stop Enfield council burying him tomorrow without their consent.

 

 

A pathologist said the baby had suffered sudden infant death syndrome.

 

 

But his parents believe the death was linked to a triple vaccination hours earlier and want further investigations.

 

 

His parents were devastated when he died suddenly on June 22, 1987, just eight hours after he was given a triple vaccine for diphtheria, polio and tetanus.

 

His father, Steve Blum, said the decision to enforce the funeral, which is to take place at a north London cemetery, was a disgrace.

 

 

He said: 'My family will not take any part whatsoever in this extraordinary forced funeral of Christopher - it will be just that, a forced funeral.

 

 

'There will be no relatives there, no flowers, and no contributions that could be seen as giving credibility to this.'

 

A council spokesman said: 'The council very much hopes that Christopher can now be laid to rest with the dignity and respect we would all wish for him.'

 

Mr Blum said he was convinced the vaccine was responsible for his son's death, despite a coroner citing that Christopher had died from cot death.

 

His belief was the beginning of an extraordinary legal battle which meant his son's body has remained in the mortuary since.

 

He and wife Mathilde have never properly said goodbye and have never visited his body, which has remained untouched since its arrival at Hornsey Coroner's Court in 1987.

 

In an earlier interview in the Mail last month he said: 'When people hear that Christopher is unburied they think I am some sort of nutter who just can't let go.

 

'But that is not the case. I simply want there to be a proper investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.

 

 

'Do they really think I want Christopher lying there officially undead?'

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1061735/Dead-baby-kept-frozen-21-years-parents-fight-plans-burial.html