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Screw Found In Llanelli Woman's Cremated Ashes

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mikey4444 | 07:31 Wed 28th Jun 2017 | Body & Soul
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-40418250

I find this a strange story. Evidence was presented at Court that this titanium screw wasn't left inside the lady, after surgery in 2006.

So if it wasn't from that surgery, where could it have come from ?

By the way, does anyone know the melting point of titanium ?
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1,668 °C
The photo in the link shows a normal screw , it does not look like one used in surgery. By the way even stainless steel which is used for many implants will not melt at cremation temperature , it is normal to sift out such items before the ashes are handed over.

Looks like it was sifted out

It was only after she was cremated that her husband Howard Denby, 57, was stunned to be handed a two-inch titanium surgical screw when he collected the cremated remains of his wife.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/carol-denby-killed-herself-after-6981544
Not a very good ad for that health authority!
Question Author
This screw was handed over with the ashes.

So, if it didn't come from the surgery on her foot/ankle, where could it have come from ?

This story isn't adding up, unless I am reading the link incorrectly.
Perhaps it came from a body cremated earlier.
Question Author
A possibility.
naomi has given one answer that occurred to me , another possibility is that the woman was 'self harming' and put the screw in herself
(no jokes please!), she is said to have had mental issues .
People think it is one furnace to each individual cremation but that is not the case. A cremation furnace has individual shelves and one body per shelf so a screw falling off one shelf onto another is possible, as is being left by mistake from a previous cremation.
Question Author
Thanks Eddie....I think that is the answer then.
Eddie, //A cremation furnace has individual shelves and one body per shelf//

That’s not true. Bodies are cremated individually

// It is against the law to cremate more than one person in a cremation.//

https://www.caring.com/questions/cremated-remains
// Evidence was presented at Court that this titanium screw wasn't left inside the lady, after surgery in 2006. //

a simpe X ray would show it up - and none is mentioned
I cant believe that a doctor could certify there is no metal in a limb without also adding "and here is the X ray"

so far three hypotheses that cant be excluded at present

a. screw was there
b. cremation as a job lot oo-er and it is someone elses
c. husband put it there

I wonder what the truth is .....
naomi, yes I should have said a cremation furnace has many individual chambers rather than shelves. But it is still possible that a screw from one chamber was accidently transferred to another chamber during cleaning for example.
This has just given me another idea that may fit the bill even better.
Titanium screws are used in the construction of cremation furnaces due to their superior strength at high temperature. The screw in the link looks like a normal screw rather than a surgical screw, so did it fall out of the furnace structure into the ashes?
Eddie, //I should have said a cremation furnace has many individual chambers rather than shelves.//

That's not true either.

//Can more than one cremation be performed at once?

It is never done. Not only is it practical impossibility, but illegal to do so. The majority of modern cremation chambers are not of adequate size to house more than one adult. //

http://www.cremationinfo.com/cremationinfo/questions.htm
How about a bit of logic here.....look at that picture of her ankle.....that is a badly and chronically infected surgical wound and one of the commonest causes would be an infected screw or plate.
So....she has a foreign body which may or may not be a screw which is causing infection.
Is it the same screw that has been found in the ashes? Simple explanation is that it came from the operation site......where else could it have come from ? Self harm? a handy hypothesis.get a screw, and dig it into your operation site. MAYBE!
I think that the husband would be pushed to link her foreign body infected ankle with her mental problems, but to say that it was not the screw that was placed surgically in her ankle is pushing coincidence to the limit.
Question Author
Morning Sqad !

This gets curiouser and curiouser !

Dr David Watson gave evidence that the screw "was different to the ones used in surgery in 2006"

I don't know this chap from Adam, but can we fully trust his evidence ?

So, this still doesn't make real sense, given everything that previous posters have said about crematoria practise.

Does it look like to you, as the sort screw that would be used in surgery ? Can I presume that those types of screws are different to the ones that I might buy from B+Q ?
I was looking forward to Sqad's opinion

yes you can look at a screw and say - "surgical" or 'son's carpentry set'. AO system is cute in that the bevels on the plates are not vertical but askew so as you screw them in wiv your AO screw driver the bone ends are pressed progressively together

(I thought all the stuff put in me (two hips) had unique serial numbers so you can find out if it is MRI safe)
Question Author
I am off for my retina photos, and will check back later !
Good morning mikey.
So.....for this story to be correct....she was cremated with TWO screws in her body....one in the ankle and the other in some undisclosed part of her anatomy due to self harm.........yeah! right.

"I don't know this chap from Adam, but can we fully trust his evidence ?"
Are you questioning the validity of medical evidence given by a trusted member of society?.......;-)
For some reason that screw that was found after cremation was one used at the operation........unusual, but i have seen a surgeon send for a screwdriver from the maintenance dept of a hospital because it was the "right" size.
I don't know who Dr David Watson is or if he has a clinical appointment at the hospital or if the operating notes were accurate......that was the screw......no doubt in my mind.
COVER UP? NHS?.........never.
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Thanks Sqad....it does sound a bit odd !

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