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John Timiriasieff, 56, had his right leg amputated below the
knee in October at Doctors Hospital in Coral Gables.
"Rather than properly disposing of the plaintiff's limb as
expected and as required by Florida law, Doctors Hospital threw
the Plaintiff's amputated limb into the garbage, with tags
indicating it belonged to the Plaintiff," according to the
lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court.
A month later, Timiriasieff said his family was contacted by
homicide detectives investigating if he had been the victim of
foul play.
When the family went back to the hospital to find out what
happened, they were told it would "provide no explanation for
what had occurred," the lawsuit said.
Doctors Hospital Inc, part of the Baptist Health South Florida
Inc, said it could not discuss the incident in detail because of
patient privacy considerations.
"However, we can say when Doctors Hospital was notified of this
situation, hospital leaders took immediate and appropriate
measures to address it," it added in an emailed statement.
"Proper procedures have been reinforced at the hospital to
prevent similar situations from happening in the future."
Normally, amputated limbs are incinerated by hospitals, said
Clay Roberts, a lawyer for Timiriasieff.
Roberts said he wrote to the hospital in January but got no
response.
In the lawsuit, Timiriasieff described the hospital's conduct as
"outrageous and beyond the bounds of human decency as to be
regarded as odious and utterly intolerable in a civilized
community."
The leg was discovered at a waste management facility and
reported to police.
Roberts said his client is upset by the hospital's unwillingness
to accept responsibility for the severe emotional distress he
endured as a result of its negligence, and failing to protect
his private medical information.
"I have heard of people having the wrong limb removed but
hospitals aren't supposed to throw them away," he said.
The case is John Timiriasieff vs. Doctors Hospital Inc,
#2015-009583-CA-01.
(Additional reporting by David Ingram; Editing by Bill Trott)
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