Change language
Actions
Displays
Remove from selection
Add to selection
Abstract

The distraught family of a woman given a pauper’s funeral after dying alone in hospital are asking why they did not find out until it was too late to provide a proper burial.

Relatives of Pamela Ravn, 57, are demanding answers as to why they were not told the mother-of-four had died at Whittington Hospital in July.

Ms Ravn was Catholic and had wanted to be buried alongside her parents in east London, but the authorities failed to contact her next of kin and went ahead with cremation.

Her ex-husband, Tom Doherty, told the Tribune: “It’s horrendous. My whole family is suffering. How has this happened? We need closure.”

Ms Ravn’s family said she had a rucksack containing her next-of-kin details on her when she was admitted to the Archway hospital. They said this was later found on the hospital ward.

The hospital has offered “sincerest condolences and apologies” to the family, but insists it followed proper procedures.

The ashes are now with the family, who are organising their own memorial service. They will bury the ashes where Ms Ravn wanted to be laid to rest, at the plot owned by her parents in Forest Gate, east London. Ms Ravn, who had suffered mental health problems, had no permanent address, but lived mainly in hostels in Islington and sometimes slept at King’s Cross station.

She had returned to the UK two years ago after one of her children died, having spent many years in Denmark.

“She was the mother of our family and deserved to be treated with dignity,” said eldest daughter Jillian Onel, of Highbury. “She didn’t deserve to go into hospital, die and it be assumed she had no family.”

Ms Ravn had separated from Mr Doherty, who lives in Angel, before moving to Denmark. “She was the mother of my children,” he said. “The hospital couldn’t save her life but they should have treated her with respect. All it needed was a simple check.”

She was admitted to the Whittington on July 26 and died early the next day from a heart condition. Her family have not been told how she came to be in hospital.

Ms Ravn was known to go missing for weeks at a time before turning up at the door of one of her children. Ms Onel noticed something was wrong when a bank statement showed that for several weeks no cash had been withdrawn from the account she looked after for her mother.

The family contacted police on September 21 to report a missing person but they did not find out what happened until October 1.

Police then informed a member of the family that Ms Ravn had died and had been cremated just five days earlier.

The family then rushed to the Whittington Hospital mortuary to find out what had happened.

Mr Doherty said a staff member was “shocked” to hear the story and went to the ward where Ms Ravn had been and found the bag with her details in a cupboard.

Ms Onel added: “If the bag had been sent down [to the mortuary] there is no way my mother would have been cremated. We need to know why this has happened.”

Savvas Pannas, chief executive of The Pilion Trust, an advocacy service for vulnerable people, paid tribute to Ms Ravn, describing her as an “intelligent and articulate” woman who walked daily around the borough.

She was studying floristry at Camden Working Men’s College and had applied to London Metropolitan University to study for a master’s degree in social work, specialising in mental health and people who needed advocacy.

She was “fiercely independent and well-read”, often quoting human rights laws when refusing medication from a psychiatrist, Mr Pannas said.

He added: “She was a caring, lovely lady and was a glass half-full kind of person. She was great fun to have a coffee and debate with.

“She was coming home after a long time away and wanted to be home, but her [life] journey was a difficult one for her.”

A Whittington spokeswoman said: “We would like to offer our sincerest condolences and apologies to the family of Ms Ravn.

“Following her death we took all reasonable steps to try and identify her next of kin but were not able to. In line with our policy, we reported Ms Ravn’s death to the coroner, who instructed us to proceed with her funeral as no known next of kin could be found.

“When we were contacted by Ms Ravn’s family, we conducted a review to confirm that we had followed our policy and procedures to locate her next of kin – this was found to be the case.

“To date, we have received no request from Ms Ravn’s family to discuss any questions they may have. We are happy to meet with her family to clarify the circumstances surrounding her admission and care, should they wish to do so.”