Family misidentifies body, buries it

Two patients died on the same day at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. Strangely, the relatives of one patient wrongly identified the body and even buried it.

Manoj Kumar, 28, from Krishnagiri, was admitted to the hospital on September 19. As the hospital did not know his name, he was taken in as an unknown case. He died on September 30.

On the same day, R. Manikandan, 20, of Medavakkam, was admitted with rheumatic heart failure. He died a few hours later. Since there were no attendants for either at the time, they were sent to the morgue, sources said. Manoj Kumar’s body was mistakenly buried by Manikandan’s family and it had to be exhumed and a post-mortem done before it was buried again.

Wrong identification of body creates flutter

The case of the two bodies being mixed up caused a flutter and a lot of anxiety for the family members of both the deceased. Manikandan and Manoj had died within a few hours of each other at the GH and both their bodies were being stored in the morgue.

“Manikandan was admitted by his mother, but she was not there when he died. Otherwise, we would have handed over the body straight to the family,” the source said.

When Manikandan’s relatives subsequently came to collect the body however, they wrongly identified the body of Manoj Kumar’s as theirs. “A number of his relatives came into the morgue, and the women were crying. They all insisted the body of Manoj Kumar was of their relative, and the mortuary attendant was confused. So he gave them the body they identified,” a source said. Later in the day, the relatives of Manoj Kumar – who had subsequently been identified by the police – came from Krishnagiri, with the police, only to find the wrong body waiting for them.

By then, Manoj Kumar’s body had been buried by Manikandan’s relatives at a cemetery near Medavakkam. Permissions were then sought and a team rushed to the cemetery, after which the body was exhumed. Since it was a medico-legal case, a post mortem was performed there itself. Manoj Kumar’s relatives then decided to re-bury the body in the same cemetery after death rites were performed.

On Friday evening, Manikandan’s relatives came in and were given his body. His body too, has now been buried at the same cemetery. An inquiry was held by the hospital and the mortuary attendant suspended, the source said.