By Paddy Clancy

BEAUMONT Hospital, one of the best-equipped hospitals in Ireland, has launched an investigation into how an additional heart and set of lungs were inside the body of a man returned to Britain after a post mortem examination carried out in the Dublin hospital last month.

Louie Selo, a 55-year-old banking analyst and father of three from Surrey, near London, died following a heart attack while on holiday A post mortem examination required by law in the event of death in unusual circumstances was carried out on the body at Beaumont. It was then returned to Britain for burial.

Post mortems usually involve the temporary removal of organs from the body. But when Selo’s remains were returned and, in accordance with established practice, re-examined by a coroner in Britain, a second heart and second pair of lungs were found in a bag inside the body.

Selo’s sudden death and apparent negligent treatment of his body by the Irish hospital was the second blow for his family. A son, Sebastian, underwent a life-saving operation for a brain tumor five years ago in Australia. The Irish holiday was the family’s first real vacation since then.

They were still preparing for Selo’s funeral when they learned of the extra organs in his body. What medics described as “a major irregularity” delayed the burial by two weeks.

Selo’s mother, Laura Selo, told the Sunday Tribune, “Louie was a lovely son. It is unimaginable the grief we are dealing with to lose so fine a man. The problems with delays after Louie’s body came home to us meant that we could not bury my son until two weeks after he died on 16 August. It was very distressing for us all.”

His wife Anna said their lives would not be the same. She described the moments before Selo suffered the heart attack and died. They were in a taxi on the way to their hotel.

“I started singing ‘In Dublin’s fair city where the girls are so pretty I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone.’ Louie was sitting in the front of the taxi and he joined in,” she said.

She added that Louie suddenly stopped singing and was taken to hospital where he died.

Initially, the hospital is reported not to have informed the Health Service Executive (HSE) — hospitals and medical services national coordinator — of the blunder.

A spokesperson for the HSE said they were unaware of the circumstances prior to being informed by a newspaper.

A spokesman for Beau-mont Hospital confirmed an internal investigation was under way. He ex-pressed “deep regret” to those affected.

The probe will also investigate if there are other cases of deceased persons whose bodies were processed at the hospital mortuary and then buried with vital organs belonging to other people.

Beaumont Hospital said the surplus organs found inside Selo’s body had been returned to the family of the body to which they belonged. They were buried in a separate religious ceremony.