A serious incident at the General Hospital of Serres in northern Greece has caused distress and raised questions over procedures after a family was given the wrong body when they arrived to collect their deceased relative.
According to information reported by Greece’s public broadcaster ERT, the family went to the hospital to receive the body of their relative but realized during the identification process that the person presented to them was not their loved one.
The deceased man’s daughter reportedly told hospital staff, after seeing the body at the mortuary, that “this is not my father.”
The family then informed police and filed a complaint. Their lawyer is expected to request permission from a prosecutor for the exhumation of a body that was buried in a Muslim cemetery in Xanthi, as the family believes there are strong indications that it may be their relative.
Hospital launches urgent administrative investigation
The General Hospital of Serres issued a statement outlining the sequence of events and announced that an urgent internal administrative investigation has been ordered to determine responsibility for what it described as a tragic incident.
According to the hospital’s statement, two patients died on July 6, 2026.
One patient, identified by the initials B.L., was an 86-year-old resident of Serres who died in the hospital’s internal medicine department at 17:22.
The second patient, identified as I.M., was a 79-year-old resident of Xanthi who died in the hospital’s intensive care unit at 01:44.
The hospital said that relatives of I.M. arrived on July 7 and identified and collected the body.
Second identification raises concerns
The following afternoon, on July 8, relatives of B.L. arrived at the hospital to collect his body. During the identification and handover process, however, they said they did not recognize the deceased person as their family member.
The hospital said it contacted the relatives of the patient from Xanthi, who initially insisted that they had identified the body as their own family member. The body had already been buried on July 8.
Hospital officials said they asked the relatives from Xanthi to return and carry out a new identification of the body that remains at the hospital.
The administration of the General Hospital of Serres has ordered an urgent administrative inquiry to investigate how the apparent mix-up occurred and identify those responsible.
