The NY Post reports that New York City is being sued because the Medical Examiner's Office has, once again, misplaced a deceased individual's brain.
Cindy Bradshaw, 32, of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, had just lost her child at birth when she received a call from the ME's Office, reporting that they still had her child's brain and that they had forgotten about it.
Bradshaw had already held a funeral and buried her son, Gianni, and had to cremate the brain at extra cost after receiving word. The May 4 call from Dr. Rachel Lange was particularly shocking because of the informality of Lange's tone. Dr. Lange is a forensic pathologist at the ME's Office. Bradshaw' notice of claim against her, the ME's Office, and the city was filed recently.
Gianni's brain is no less than the fourth one to be misplaced at the Medical Examiner's Office without the knowledge of the families. The city is now appealing a $1 million verdict for having misplaced the brain of Jesse Shipley, 17, of Staten Island, who was killed in a car accident in 2005. The family learned of the faux pas when classmates travelled to the morgue for a field trip and noticed Shipley's name on a jar containing a brain.
The office changed its policy in 2010 so that reporting the brain's location to family members would be mandatory.
MORE INFORMATION
If you would like more information about how medical malpractice cases work in the state of New York, I encourage you to explore my educational website. If you have legal questions, I invite you to pick up the phone and call me at 516-487-8207 or by e-mail at [email protected] to answer your questions. That's what I do every day. I welcome your call.
