His brother was brain dead, they allowed him to disconnect but they made a terrible mistake

The doctors told a woman that her brother was "brain dead" and allowed to unplug the respirator … but there was a problem: it was not his brother.

On July 15, Frederick Williams, 40, was admitted to St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, New York. The man had been found unconscious in the street by the emergency services, apparently because of a drug overdose.

Williams had his social security card with his name on his clothes. Once the hospital staff identified him, they searched the Internet, found the phone of a sister and called him.

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

Shirell ran for the Bronx. Upon arrival, the doctors informed him that brain damage was important and that there was no chance of survival, the New York Post reported.

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.

Shirell was going through a very painful situation "It was my brother minor! I was worried, hurt, crying, shouting, calling everyone. It was a horrible feeling, "he said.

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

At this sad moment for the family, Brooklyn, one of Frederick's daughters, has signed up for a final goodbye. "I was hysterical." He took her hand, kissed her, cried … "remembered 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 wore on his clothes under the name of Frederick Clarence Williams.

But after the identification, Shirell and her family realized that the deceased was not her parent: the brother Shirell's name was not Clarence's middle name. 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 said.

Immediately, he discovered that his authentic brother He was arrested on 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. Your brother he was unhappy with the decision he had taken to unplug 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 to bring a lawsuit against the hospital for damages for the stress and suffering suffered during those weeks and to have been forced to make the decision to unplug the respirator from a stranger.

"We do not think there is a reason for a claim," said a hospital spokesman 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 that, having been with him, watching him in his last breath … I can hardly talk about it without crying." On one side, I'm glad this not be my brother, but on the other side, I killed someone who was also father or brother"

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