The National Trial Lawyers
  • Home
    • Meet Our Team
    • Contact Us
    • Mission & Goals
    • FAQ
  • Webinars
  • News
  • Membership Directory
    • Top 100 Map – Civil Plaintiff
    • Top 100 Map – Criminal Defense
    • Top 40 Under 40 Map – Civil Plaintiff
    • Top 40 Under 40 Map – Criminal Defense
  • Top 100
    • Civil Plaintiff Officers / Executive Committee
    • Criminal Defense Officers / Executive Committee
    • Benefits
    • About
    • Top 100 President’s Message
    • Diplomat
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Top 100 Badge
    • Media
  • Top 40
    • Civil Plaintiff Officers / Executive Committee
    • Criminal Defense Officers / Executive Committee
    • Top 40 Under 40 Trial Academy Bootcamp
    • Benefits
    • About
    • Top 40 President’s Message
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Top 40 Badge
    • Media
  • Specialty Assoc
    • About
    • Shop
    • Officers
    • Membership Renewal
    • Member Profile Updates
    • Media
  • Nominate
    • Top 100
    • Top 40
    • Specialty Association
    • Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame
    • Trial Lawyer of the Year
    • Trial Team of the Year
    • America’s Most Influential Trial Lawyer
    • America’s Most Influential Law Firm
    • Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Shop
  • Magazine
    • A-List
  • Education and Networking Agenda
    • Trial Lawyers Summit
      • Summit Sponsors
    • Top 40 Under 40 Trial Academy Boot Camp
    • Mass Torts Made Perfect
    • The Lanier Master Class 5.0 Trial Academy 2021
    • Webinars
  • Hall of Fame
    • Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame

NY Top Court Throws $600,000 Verdict for Teen’s Brain Discovered During Class Trip

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Larry Bodine
Classmates of teen discovered retained brain during a field trip to the autopsy room.

Classmates of teen discovered retained brain during a field trip to the autopsy room.

The New York Court of Appeals ruled that a family is not entitled to the $600,000 emotional distress jury verdict awarded to them after they received their teen son’s body for burial, unknowingly, without his brain.

The court dismissed the case ruling that a medical examiner is not obligated to inform a decedent’s next of kin that organs or tissue have been retained for further examination, even when the body is returned to the family for a burial.

The “tragic and unfortunate events” that gave rise to this case occurred in Staten Island, NY on January 9, 2005 when 17-year-old high school student Jesse Shipley was killed in a car accident.  Dr. Stephen de Roux, the New York City Medical Examiner, completed the autopsy on Shipley’s body. During the autopsy, de Roux, also removed Shipley’s brain and other tissue.

Brain retained for routine analysis

See also: Parents Liable for Emotional Distress Caused by Son’s Facebook Page that Bullied Classmate

Shipley’s brain was “fixed” in formalin fluid to allow for the proper analysis of brain tissue in a neuropathological examination, according to court documents.  Additional examinations are “routinely” performed after the body has gone through an autopsy and is released for funeral services.  Shipley’s funeral was held on January 13, 2005.

Neuropathological exam completed two months after funeral

Shipley’s brain, however, was not analyzed by neuropathologist, Dr. Hernando Mena, until March 9, 2005.  The medical examiner’s routine practice was to accumulate at least six brain specimens before contacting Mena to conduct the exams.

Mena’s examination on Shipley’s brain indicated that he had died from “multiple blunt trauma to the head” according to court documents.  Unfortunately, Shipley’s family learned of his preserved brain from classmates of Shipley’s who saw the jar containing his brain and labeled with his name during a field trip at the mortuary they took for a forensic science class.

The students from Shipley’s high school told his surviving sister, who told her parents, that Shipley’s brain was in a jar at the Richmond County Mortuary, where his autopsy was performed.

Lower court jury awards family $1 million in damages

The lower court found that the medical examiner did have an obligation to tell the family that when the body was available for burial, some of the organs were removed for further examination.  At trial, the jury awarded the Shipley family $1 million in damages, which was later, reduced to $600,000.

The City of New York appealed the decision, and the state’s highest court reversed the decision and jury verdict and dismissed the case.  The court determined that the medical examiner is required to turn over the “remains of” the decedent’s body to the next of kin for burial, but that the plain language of the law did not require the specific words of “tissue, organ or part thereof” to be returned to the next of kin.

Within medical examiner’s discretion to disclose

The court found that absent specific language to return more than the remains of the deceased, it is within the medical examiners discretion to determine what organ and tissue samples to retain.

It is also up to the medical examiner to determine whether to inform the decedent’s family whether the body had been returned without the organ or tissue specimens.

“There is simply no legal directive,” said the court, requiring medical examiners to return organs or tissue retained during an autopsy and his obligation is fulfilled once he returns the deceased body to his next of kin after a lawful autopsy has been conducted.

The case is Andre Shipley et al., v. City of New York et.al., in the Supreme Court of New York.

Posted in Auto Accidents, Blog, Consumer Protection

Comments are closed.

News Categories

Subscribe to Blog and VFJ via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog, the Voice for Justice and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Read about other Top Jury Verdicts

Sterling Bancorp Agrees to $12.5 Million Settlement with Oklahoma Police Pension & Retirement System

Sterling Bancorp Agrees to $12.5 Million Settlement with Oklahoma Police Pension & Retirement System

Sterling Bancorp Inc. agreed to pay $12.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by the $3.1 billion Oklahoma Po[Read More...]
Boy Scouts of America and The Hartford Enter $650 Million Settlement for Sex Abuse Claims

Boy Scouts of America and The Hartford Enter $650 Million Settlement for Sex Abuse Claims

After years of legal dispute, The Hartford has entered into a settlement agreement and release with the Boy Scouts [Read More...]
Playland Operator Reaches $12 Million Bankruptcy Settlement

Playland Operator Reaches $12 Million Bankruptcy Settlement

The Westchester County Board of Legislators last week approved a bankruptcy court settlement with Standard Amusements regardi[Read More...]
Santa Fe Agrees To a $36M Settlement With the Firms Responsible For Constructing Its Water Project

Santa Fe Agrees To a $36M Settlement With the Firms Responsible For Constructing Its Water Project

The board of the Santa Fe city and county’s joint Buckman Direct Diversion agreed to a $36 million settlement last wee[Read More...]
Health Net Repaid $97.2M To Settle an Investigation Confirming It Over-Billed the U.S. For Veterans Care

Health Net Repaid $97.2M To Settle an Investigation Confirming It Over-Billed the U.S. For Veterans Care

A Rancho Cordova health insurance company has repaid $97.2 million to settle an investigation into inflated claims submitted [Read More...]

#LegalNews

@@TheNTLtop100

Contact Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy

Attorney information and content provided on this website is provided for the benefit of members of The National Trial Lawyers and as a public service by Legal Associations Management, Inc. The website and all data are the property of Legal Associations Management, Inc. Data, including without limitation attorney information and content, on the site may not be mined, sold, or used commercially for any purpose without the explicit written consent of Legal Associations Management, Inc. This site may not be accessed by any automated program for extracting data for any use. By accessing and using the site you agree that you will not develop, support or use software, devices, scripts, robots, or any other means or processes (including crawlers, browser plug-ins and add-ons, or any other technology) to scrape data or otherwise copy profiles and other data. Unauthorized use or attempted unauthorized use of this system may subject you to both civil and criminal penalties.