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(CNN) -- A woman who gave birth to a stillborn boy was left distraught after she discovered his body was kept in a jar for four years by the hospital.
Jo-Ann Burrows believed for years that her son had been cremated before making the grim discovery about his fate.
The mother-of-five is now taking legal action against the hospital authorities in Hampshire, southern England, the UK's Press Association reported Thursday.
PA reported that Ms Burrows had daughter Ellie in April 2004 at the Hythe Birthing Centre, in Hampshire, but gave birth to the stillborn twin two days later at home.
She said that an ultrasound scan taken the previous December had not revealed that she was carrying a twin, according to PA.
After the stillbirth, Ms Burrows, 44, was taken to the Princess Anne maternity hospital in Southampton, also in southern England, where she gave her consent for the body to be cremated.
PA reported that she has spent the past four years asking for the funeral papers and ashes.
The 44-year-old is now organizing a naming ceremony and funeral for the stillborn, whose twin sister survived.
Ms Burrows was quoted in her local newspaper, the Southern Daily Echo, as saying: "This experience has made me suicidal, if it wasn't for my friends and family I wouldn't be here.
"I kept asking for my baby's funeral papers because I was always worried that he might be in a jar somewhere. I still couldn't believe it when I found out."
She was informed through her solicitor in February that the hospital still had the baby and has now filed a medical negligence claim against Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust.
It claims the Trust failed to "exercise reasonable care and skill when performing the ultrasound and also focuses on Ms Burrows' repeated requests for confirmation of the cremation," PA reported.
A Trust spokeswoman told the news agency: "Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust confirms that legal proceedings have been brought against it by Ms Jo-Ann Burrows.
"The chief executive has already written to Ms Burrows apologizing for shortcomings in the treatment provided to her and, in particular, for the circumstances which led to Ms Burrows' second twin not being cremated in 2004 as they had previously advised and for the distress this discovery may have caused."
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