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Bungling hospital staff left the remains of a baby next to the woman who lost the child.

Sarah Howard, who had suffered a miscarriage, was devastated to find the tiny foetus in a plastic bag at the end of her bed in a recovery ward.

She said: “I was hysterical. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. I was crying and took it to a nurse.

“It’s an image I’ll never forget. I can’t forgive the hospital for leaving the remains there.”

Sarah, 33, was told she had lost her baby eight weeks after becoming pregnant and chose surgery at Birmingham Women’s Hospital to remove the foetus in order not to see the remains. After the op, she went to get a blanket and saw it in the bag.

She said: “A nurse snatched it off me and took it away. The nurses were all horrified that it happened.”

Her heartbroken partner Brett Wilkinson, 43, said: “She could see the head. The baby didn’t have a sex yet, but it was still our child.”

Sarah and Brett, of Woodgate Valley, Birmingham, had discovered she was expecting in July.

After suffering bleeding Sarah, a barmaid, went to Birmingham Women’s Hospital to be told she had miscarried.

She said: “They did the scan and there was no heartbeat. I was totally heartbroken, it was my first child.

“They said I could let the foetus come out naturally, have tablets inserted or surgery. I chose surgery as I would not have to see my baby.”

Birmingham Women’s NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are incredibly sorry for what happened and the distress it caused.

“We are doing all we can to support her and her family.

“Senior staff and a director have met the patient and we have launched an investigation to ensure it never happens again.”