<[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:Recently a death occurred to a family member in his home.
The cause of
death
Quoted message said:was attributed to possible heart attack. He was taken to
the morgue and
his
Quoted message said:possessions including damp clothing placed in a plastic
bag. He was not released for burial for several days
because the cause of death was not
readily
Quoted message said:apparent and the Medical Examiner said an autopsy might be
performed. His
damp
Quoted message said:clothing remained in the plastic bag for several days.
The plastic bag was delivered to the funeral home along
with the body. We
had
Quoted message said:been told that there were two wallets containing a
considerable amount of
cash
Quoted message said:so we (three family members) opened the plastic bags which
emitted a cloud
of
Quoted message said:heavy stench because they were damp. (The wallets were
not there).
One family member who participated in opening the bag and
checking the
contents
Quoted message said:for the wallets became ill about two hours later with a
fever which lasted
about
Quoted message said:two days.
Why on earth do they put wet clothing in a plastic bag and
leave it there
for
Quoted message said:several days without drying out the clothing before doing
so? Don't the
people
Quoted message said:in the morgue have any regulations to follow for such
matters? If not
they
Quoted message said:should.
How about hospitals? Do they put wet clothing in plastic
bags when a
person is
Quoted message said:brought in sick and admitted to the hospital?
Absolutely inexcuseable...adding to the burden of a family
that lost a loved one by keeping effects for several days.
In fact, it's intolerable that they would even wait several
days to do the autopsy. For a M.E. or Coroner's Office to
treat the dead person and his/her family in such a manner is
grounds for an irate letter of complaint to the county board
that oversees the office. I will say that the relationship
of the moldy clothing and the family member becoming ill
with a fever is baloney, however.
The only regulations for dealing with dead peoples' effects
and property are those that may be imposed by the elected
board that oversees the office, or perhaps those written by
the ME's office itself. Common courtesy, common sense, and
compassion should govern these issues, however.
I am the Assistant Coroner for this county, and I have 8
deputy coroners under me. Dealing promptly and scrupulously
with personal property is of the utmost importance in our
system, if not for the reasons of common courtesy, then
because disputes over such property represent by far the
biggest headaches a coroner's office can have. We inventory
every single item on the body. such detachable things as
wallets would NEVER be trasnported with the body. We would
return such things on the spot and get them signed for. My
boss (Coroner) is located in another county about 100 miles
from here, and is the coroner for 4 other counties besides
this one. If I or any of my deputies ever treated a family
such as you describe above and caused any of them any undue
distress, she'd have my ass.
HMc
