B.C. Couple Billed for Stillborn Daughter’s Autopsy Weeks After Delays in Releasing Her Remains

Nick and Laura Bordignon were still grappling with the devastating loss of their infant daughter Makayla when a shocking letter arrived in the mail.

Sent weeks after her stillbirth at Eagle Ridge Hospital in Port Moody, the envelope was addressed to their daughter and contained an invoice for her autopsy — along with a list of procedures performed by a coroner. The autopsy had taken place two weeks earlier, but the letter left the couple with the chilling impression that Makayla’s remains were still in the morgue.

“I remember just standing there in disbelief,” said Nick, a police officer. “The confusion quickly turned to rage.”

Makayla was stillborn on Sept. 25, 2024. Her parents had consented to an autopsy in the hopes of understanding what had gone wrong. But they were never told the timeline or process for retrieving her remains. It wasn’t until the invoice arrived in late October that they realized her body hadn't been returned to the funeral home.

The Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) has since apologized and reversed the invoice, admitting the Bordignons should never have received the bill.

The family’s case is now being investigated by B.C.'s Patient Care Quality Review Board. But they're not the first to face this kind of trauma. In 2022, another B.C. family endured an eight-week delay before receiving their child’s remains — despite prior promises from hospital officials to standardize post-stillbirth procedures.

Dr. Lynn Murphy-Kaulbeck, president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, says these events point to a troubling systemic failure.

“There are no consistent protocols. That’s why heartbreaking stories like this happen,” she said. “It shouldn’t be left to grieving parents to chase answers.”

While other countries like the U.K. and Australia have implemented national bereavement care guidelines and action plans to reduce stillbirths, Canada has yet to follow suit. Murphy-Kaulbeck is now advising the federal government on how to build such a plan — noting that as many as 40% of stillbirths may be preventable.

The Bordignons say their goal is not blame, but change. They’ve requested a meeting with hospital leadership and want safeguards in place to ensure other families don’t suffer the same indignity.

“We know she wasn't coming home alive,” said Nick, “but we believed she would come home with us — and she should’ve.”

Makayla was finally cremated in early November. Her ashes rest in a heart-shaped urn on the couple’s mantle.

“She’s back home,” Nick said quietly.