Morgue technician mixes up bodies...

Not his fault, really, he'd just gotten back from Long John Silver's....

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/florida/MGBTBR5Q54E.html

Tag Misread Mixs Up Bodies at Duval Morgue


JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - An autopsy technician misread a number on a body tag, leaving one family without a body to memorialize and another with the wrong person's ashes scattered across the Atlantic Ocean.
As a result of the mistaken identification, the technician released the body of John Chappell, 36, instead of that of Judith Perez, 65, said Duval County Chief Medical Examiner Margarita Arruza.

"It was off by one digit. He released the wrong body to the funeral home, and obviously the funeral home never checked or looked at the body," she said. She said the technician is no longer employed by her office.

Perez's family had the body cremated and scattered the ashes in the ocean before the mistake was discovered when Chappell's relatives showed up to claim his body.

"The relatives of John Chappell has other plans for their brother," said attorney Henry Gare, who represents Chappell's brother in Jacksonville and sister in Mt. Morris, Mich. They have notified City Hall of their intent to sue for negligence.

"It is a very heartbreaking situation," Gare said Wednesday.

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