A family grieving the loss of a loved one were horrified when they went to view his body, only to realise they were looking at the face of a complete stranger. Now, they’re seeking justice for their ‘unimaginable trauma’
Family members of a 69-year-old man were left devastated after going to view his body – only to realise they were looking at a complete stranger.
Agricultural labourer Rajendran died Tuesday, June 3, at Tiruvallur govt hospital near the historic city of Chennai, in India, the day after reportedly making a tragic suicide attempt. A postmortem was carried out and, the following day, the hospital released a cloth-wrapped body to Rajendran’s grieving family.
Wishing to see their loved one’s face one last time, the cloth was lifted back, only to reveal a face that did not belong to Rajendran. It was clear that there had been a terrible mix up, which indicated an alarming lapse in hospital protocols.
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The Commune reports that Rajendran’s younger brother Vignesh recalled: “We searched everywhere. When we saw that the body wasn’t his, we were in shock. His features didn’t match. Still, hospital staff kept insisting it was him and tried to convince us otherwise.”
As reported by the Times of India, the shocked relatives protested, and CCTV footage was reviewed in front of them, in order to determine who exactly was responsible for such a calamatous error. However, in a move that sparked further outrage among already furious family members, staff claimed that recordings were incomplete, and that they didn’t have the password required to access the footage.
Arguments with police officers and employees ensued, and an investigation was launched by hospital administration. It was determined that the body sent to the family had in fact belonged to the late Manoj Manchi, a 55-year-old construction labourer who’d arrived in Chennai from his home state of Bihar on May 30.
Manoj had begun working on a construction site on June 2, and fell ill and collapsed that very same day. He was rushed to the Tiruvallur hospital but, sadly, succumbed to his grave illness. One of his relatives from Bihar made the lengthy journey to the hospital to claim a body, apparently without checks being carried out, and Rajendran’s remains were taken away in an ambulance, far away from his grieving family.
It’s understood that both bodies, which had been kept in the same mortuary, had been classified as unidentified on account of a lack of proper documentation.
By the time the mistake was noted, Rajendran’s body was already 800km away in the back of an ambulance, en route to the northern state. Officials managed to contact and alert the ambulance driver, who had already driven past the distant city of Hyderabad, and instructed him to return Rajendran’s body to the hospital. He arrived back on Thursday, June 5.
The family’s lawyer, Muthu, has now called for action from the Tamil Nadu Health Minister, while demanding that those responsible be held accountable. Muthu stated: “This isn’t a small mistake. A human body was mishandled, and a grieving family was put through unimaginable trauma.
“The Health Minister must intervene directly, identify those at fault, and ensure they are held accountable — publicly. Only then will the public regain trust in the state’s medical system.”
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