They told him that his brother was "brain dead" and allowed to unplug the respirator … but there was a problem: it was not his brother

It all began on July 15, when Frederick Williams, 40, was admitted to St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, New York. He had been found unconscious in the street by the emergency services, apparently by a drug overdose

Williams had his social security card with his name on his clothes. Hospital employees took note, searched the Internet, found the phone of a sister and called her.

"Hi, are you Shirell Powell?" He asked. "Your brother is here in the hospital, hospitalized in a serious condition.

Shirell ran for the Bronx. Upon his arrival, they informed him that the damage to the brain was significant and that there was not much chance of survival, he said. The New York Post

They let her into the room. The man was full of tubes that allowed him to breathe and partially covered his face, which seemed much swollen than usual. She took his hand and cried. After a while, he called his family in Virginia, including two teenage daughters who had not seen Frederick for a while, and asked them to go to the hospital to say goodbye to his father.

Two days later, the doctors informed him that his brother was brain dead.

"He was my youngest brother, a very painful situation.I was worried, hurt, crying, shouting, calling everyone, it was a horrible feeling."

Two weeks later, when the situation was so serious, Powell has allowed the hospital to unplug the respirator and let his brother die.

Brooklyn, one of Frederick's daughters, is listed for a final goodbye. "I was hysterical. He took her hand, kissed her, cried …"remembers her aunt.

A few hours later, Freddy is dead.

His body was transferred for an autopsy in the same hospital, where he was identified with the social security card that he had on his clothes. Frederick Clarence Williams.

There was a problem: Shirell's brother did not call Clarence the second name.

Clearer: It was not his brother.

"They called me as soon as we started making arrangements for the funeral! We were going to bury another person"she told him.

He quickly discovered that his real brother had been stopped July 1 in lower Manhattan. A few weeks later, Shirell went to her court hearing just to see her face. "When I saw it, I could not believe it, it was like an incredible relief."

A few days later, he phoned the prison to tell him everything that had happened. His brother was angry at the decision he had made to disconnect him from the respirator. But then he forgave him. He understood that if he had been told that he was "brain dead", there would be no possibility of continuing to live.

Shirell then decided sue the hospital for damages for stress and suffering who spent those weeks and had to make the decision to unplug the respirator from a stranger.

"We do not believe that there is a reason for a claim", said hospital spokesmen at the New York Post.

Shirell's attorney tried to obtain information about the deceased's royal family, his client having wanted to offer him his condolences and tell him what had happened, but the hospital l & rsquo; Denied.

"I do not sleep at night thinking about it, after having accompanied him, watching him in his last breath … I can hardly talk about it without crying … On one side, I'm happy that he is not my brother, but on the other, I killed someone who was also father or brother"