Kevin Koeninger reports on a lawsuit with some distressing allegations. It seems that Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester allegedly allowed three youth access to the corpse of a young gunshot victim. The youth were not related to the deceased young man (although seemingly told hospital staff that they were), and took photos of his corpse with a cellphone – pictures that they allegedly sent to the mother of the dead youth in the days following his death.
“The photograph of Louis Rosario’s corpse has been circulated on public media.”
Rivera says the hospital violated its “patient bill of rights,” which includes a right to confidentiality, personal dignity and also excludes photography of any kind.
“All of the defendants failed to secure Mr. Rosario’s body from the eyes of the curious and the malicious, including those who may have played a part in his murder,” the complaint states.
Rivera seeks punitive damages from the hospital’s operator, Vanguard Health Systems, Nurse Marlene Mwangi and four security officers, for privacy violations, negligent control of a dead body and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
I am not seeing evidence of any such photos from a quick Google images search or from looking at archived news stories on the murder, but if these allegations are true, how distressing for the mother.
But how often do people lie to hospital staff and say they’re family to get in to see a patient? Frequently, right? And hospital personnel don’t stand there and ask to see proof or identification.
So what should be the outcome of this case, based solely on what’s in the news report of the lawsuit?