Families file suit in bizarre U.S. mistaken identity case

The police department and hospital will settle out of court. The lack of due diligence is painfully obvious and strong evidence of negligence.

It seems that a simple fingerprint check could have correctly identified the man from the beginning. Not sure that I see a victim worthy of winning a lawsuit – maybe for unnecessary stress?

I would hope the real family would be happy someone was with him and took care of him instead of him dying alone.

how come "they had some doubts about his identi[t]y"? did they not go to the hospital I wonder? or was he beyond recognizable? and also, how come their brother (Alfonso) was out of contact for two months, with the sisters, and presumably, the friends who were throwing the barbecue, since his appearance there seems to have come as a surprise? and how did he know about the barbecue if no-one had had contact? as usual, an article very thin on information.

Did the sisters have doubts or did they say flat out "That's not him?" Did they express these doubts or denials to the police? Did the police refuse to listen? Cannot judge without these details but I will say that the police cannot be expected to know the citizenry better than their own family and I sure don't want them to be collecting enough data that they can.

Greedy, money hungry scavengers.

Nobody was hurt.

but instead of being joyful & thankful at their brother being alive, they saw dollar signs - typical of American society these days

Greedy, money hungry scavengers.

Nobody was hurt.

but instead of being joyful & thankful at their brother being alive, they saw dollar signs - typical of American society these days

They were lied to. They went through the pain ans suffering of believing a member of thr family died and they had to pay for an unnecessary funeral. Not to mention they accidentally killed someone by taking him off life support went it wasn't thier call to make Your lack of sympathy for either of these families is disturbing to say the least.

They were lied to. They went through the pain ans suffering of believing a member of thr family died and they had to pay for an unnecessary funeral. Not to mention they accidentally killed someone by taking him off life support went it wasn't thier call to make Your lack of sympathy for either of these families is disturbing to say the least.

Well said, D-nuts.

how were they lied to !?

the hospital made an honest mistake.

didn’t the sisters also think the man was their brother !?

They should shoulder some of the responsibility too ! How can you not recognize your own brother !? How about calling him to confirm his status.

the hospital made an honest mistake.

How do you know this?

It states it was a case of mistaken identity.

Doesn’t mention anything about a deliberate cover up, lying or deceit.

as I’ve said already, his own sisters made the same mistake regarding his identity

Doesn’t mention anything about a deliberate cover up, lying or deceit

Are you unfamiliar with the word "negligence"? It means not acting at a minimum standard of care, which is what happens when police and hospitals do not correctly identify a person.

so The hospital is negligent because they couldn’t identify an unknown person,

but the sisters will get a million dollar payout because they couldn’t identify their own brother - that’s real fair !

and they then agreed to switch off the life support system, even though they had doubts

tooheysnewToday  01:17 pm JST

Greedy, money hungry scavengers.

Nobody was hurt.

but instead of being joyful & thankful at their brother being alive, they saw dollar signs - typical of American society these days

Maybe and maybe not. It is very likely that under these circumstances, the Bennet family which gave the authorization to take patient Elisha Brittman off life support, albeit based on incorrect information, is being sued by the Brittman family, and has no alternative but to bring a suit against those who provided the incorrect information. Civil actions often are a mess of unavoidable cross suits. And yes, this article does not provide enough information to avoid misconceptions.

negligence is when your own brother is allegedly lying in a hospital bed on a life support system, & despite having doubts, you decide to pull the plug without confirming 100% that it is indeed your brother

It seems that a simple fingerprint check could have correctly identified the man from the beginning.

Most people in the USA haven't been finger printed. There isn't a national DB of fingerprints of you aren't a criminal, arrested, or in the military.

When the police say it is X, why would a hospital look any farther than that for identification? These sound like regular people.

Not all families see each other all the time. There are parts of my immediate family who I haven't seen in over 5 yrs. There are uncles, aunts, 1st cousins who I haven't seen in 35+ yrs.

If they doubt about their brother's identity and then one of them should check her brother by calling to their brother. It's 21st Century and even some homeless men have a mobile phone.

They took deceased life support knowing that person may not be their brother. The sisters are guilty of taking off his life support.

Now the sisters are suing the police for what?

It was pure greed.

I couldn't believe the sisters did not recognize straight away and tell police that person was not their brother. My family hadn't seen each other for 20 years, but we all recognized each other.

@theFu...  The dead man was eventually identified thru fingerprints.  Had he been fingerprinted as admitted to the hospital, he would have been correctly identified at that point.

I just researched, and see that roughly 1/3 of the US population has been fingerprinted (over 100 million). Of course this would be a higher percentage for adults, so for adult unidentified individuals it would seem to me to be worthwhile.