THE sister of the man whose body parts went missing after his death earlier this year is demanding answers from the hospital, alleging a mass "cover-up" and pressing for the arrests of those involved.

Marion Bishop this week told the Mid-Ocean News that in the seven months since the death of her brother, Paget resident Norman Palmer, her family has had no satisfactory answers on the whereabouts of his missing organs ¿ including his brain stem and two-thirds of his brain.

Ms Bishop believes the hospital deliberately removed her brother's organs, after failing to revive him due to inadequate equipment in the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital Emergency Room.

"They say he died of natural causes, but there is nothing natural about the way my brother died," Ms Bishop said.

"Why hasn't anyone been arrested? His organs are missing!"

Mr. Palmer was admitted to the ER on April 12 of this year after having difficulty breathing at his Tee Street home.

His condition deteriorated and he died that evening, without having been given a potentially life-saving tracheotomy to stop him from suffocating.

While the KEMH Department of Pathology's autopsy report claimed "a tracheostomy was performed", the same hospital's Emergency Department Ambulance Report contradicted that claim, admitting there was "no cricothyroidotomy pack available in the department" ¿ that is, no way for the ER doctors at KEMH to perform the necessary tracheostomy to open his airways.

"My brother suffocated to death, I have no doubt about that," said Ms Bishop.

"How can you miss a tracheostomy? There's a big hole!"

Mr. Palmer's other sister Heather Carberry, a Registered Nurse, questioned the Bermuda autopsy findings from the start, knowing what a tracheostomy scar was supposed to look like.

It was only during a post-mortem in East Somerset, England that the UK coroner made a grim discovery: not only had the tracheostomy not been performed as reported in the Bermuda autopsy, but a number of Mr. Palmer's organs and body parts were missing.

These included his trachea, larynx, oesophagus, stomach, thyroid, prostate, bladder, and parts of his intestines, among others. Also missing: Mr. Palmer's brain stem and his cerebellum.

To date, there has been no answer from either the hospital, the Bermuda coroner, the Department of Health or the Bermuda Police Service as to the whereabouts of these organs.

Government House and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the UK have both stepped in to help expedite this investigation, but until the Bermuda Coroner produces a report, the case is at a standstill.

The UK coroner charged with this case, Tony Williams, told the Mid-Ocean News yesterday that he is powerless to continue his investigation until these Bermuda coroner reports are submitted.

"There is nothing further I can do until decisions are taken in Bermuda," Mr. Williams said.

"I have not had a date confirmed. The family has been given various dates, and then extensions of those dates.

"No dates have been confirmed and no promises have been made."

Until she hears otherwise, Ms Bishop stands by her belief that Mr. Palmer's organs were removed at KEMH ¿ against her brother's will.

"I believe he died and they harvested his organs," she said.

"He didn't have a donor card. If a person dies and this hospital can just take organs, why do we need donor cards? Where are my brother's body parts? They're missing. Did the undertaker have them? The hospital is certainly unclear. Why did they need his brain stem? Is this a cover-up or what?"

During the course of this seven-month wait, Ms Bishop has faced a multitude of road-blocks as she has sought information on her brother's death and the subsequent disappearance of his organs.

She told the Mid-Ocean News that KEMH banned her from entering after her third visit, when she went to the hospital to ask for her brother's throat.

Neither she nor her family members were advised of the date or time of Mr. Palmer's autopsy, which is their right by law.

To add insult to injury, Ms. Bishop and her family were unable to carry out Mr. Palmer's wish to be cremated, as the ongoing investigation means his body needs to be preserved.

As the Mid-Ocean News went to press, KEMH did not confirm whether the ER is now equipped with a cricothyroidotomy pack.

A BHB spokesman said that "all organs were returned with the deceased to the funeral home in line with BHB' s policy" but that the hospital "cannot comment any further on this issue as it is under police investigation".

Health Minister Nelson Bascombe did not respond to a request for comment, and has in fact yet to return a call made by Ms Bishop's partner on the night of Mr. Palmer's death.

Shadow Health Minister Louise Jackson (pictured) has led the charge in Bermuda for a full investigation into Mr. Palmer's death and missing organs, calling on Government to invest in paramedics for Bermuda, as well as adequate ER equipment.

Bermuda's ambulances are manned by EMTs, who are less qualified than paramedics and would not have been able to administer a tracheostomy to Mr. Palmer, even if the ambulance been equipped with the appropriate machines.

Mrs. Jackson has called the lack of paramedics "unacceptable", asking why Bermuda did not have the same medical resources as other developed Western countries.

"We are a first world country," she said.

"If we can't get it together, one of the richest countries in the world, who can?"