Saw this as a wire service blurb in the local paper of record, but the Charlotte Observer has the details on a tragic case of mistaken identity that resulted in a $400,000 ruling against the state:
Deputy Commissioner Stephen Gheen harshly criticized a local medical examiner in Guilford County and ordered the state to pay damages for emotional and mental distress suffered when a man went to a funeral home expecting to see his sister. Instead, he saw the body of another woman.
The mistake in 2008 prompted a frantic search for the body of Lorraine Young. It ended shortly before a Greensboro funeral home – unaware of the circumstances – was scheduled to cremate the woman’s body.
…Guilford County Medical Examiner Ronald Key relied on information from a Highway Patrol trooper when he misidentified Young’s body.
In his ruling, Gheen said that the trooper could not have predicted that Key would fail to carry out his duties as medical examiner.
There could be appeals from both sides, with Ms. Young’s family possibly seeking punitive damages.
