In October 2014, homicide detectives arrived at John Timiriasieff’s door to inquire why an amputated leg with his name written on an attached tag appeared at a local waste management facility.
The investigators were concerned about foul play, but in reality, a Coral Gables, Florida-based hospital erroneously discarded the limb into a dumpster instead of incinerating it, per proper medical procedure.
Timiriasieff is now suing Doctors Hospital, claiming that the poor handling of his amputated extremity caused him to suffer “invasion of privacy, embarrassment and humiliation” the Miami Herald reports.
In fact, documents filed in the Miami-Dade County Circuit Court allege that the hospital acted in a manner that was “outrageous and beyond all bounds of human decency … and utterly intolerable in civilized society.”
So far, the hospital has refused to publicly comment on the incident, citing patient privacy concerns. Timiriasieff’s attorney, Clay Roberts, says that it also will not partake in discussions with him about the events that transpired.
“When we contacted the hospital, they claimed they could not give us any explanation for why or how this happened,” Roberts told the Miami Herald.
Hospital administrators did relay to the news outlet, however, that it has implemented measures to better safeguard against these kinds of mishaps going forward.
“Proper procedures have been reinforced at the hospital to prevent similar situations from happening in the future,” it said in an emailed statement to the newspaper.
