That was the headline in yesterday’s Daily News.
Why did I read it? Because the sub-headline was “Hospital caused ‘grave humiliation’ to kin: suit.” And because it was written by one of my favorite reporters, John Marzulli, who seems to be branching off the organized crime beat into my-kind-of-lawsuit beat.
So what’s the problem here? Well, George Cardel, a 59 year old man, died. And his “final wish died with him — doomed by his hefty 300-pound frame.”
What was his final wish? That his body be donated to science. So what’s the problem, aside from a fat man dying at age 59, largely, I would think, because he’s fat? Well, the hospital where he died really tried to “place his corpse with the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine…But there were no takers according to a [$2 million] complaint filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.
“The deceased weighed too much,” said lawyer Eric Rothstein, who is representing Cardel’s sister in a suit that claims the hospital caused “grave humiliation.” (Was Rothstein laughing when he wrote that? Geez, I hope so.)
“Even worse,” writes Marzulli, “the 59-year-old man’s body wasn’t returned for 13 days — so badly decomposed it required cremation.”
“We thought everything was taken care of until 13 days later,” Cardel’s sister Maryanne O’Donnell told the Daily News.”
“Maryanne’s husband, Joseph, said it left the family reeling.
“‘Everybody was trying to get through closure and suddenly George was back,’ he said.”
That line is so powerful, so resonant, so … well, I can’t stop laughing so I’m going to bold it. There. Bolded.
P.S. Wanna bet this case gets tossed?
P.P.S. Understand why I read the Daily News?