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CITY TORTS

EMOTIONAL DISTRESS
$2 M AWARDED TO STILLBORN’S PARENTS
Brooklyn Hospital Center disposed of couple’s stillborn baby’s remains. Emilian Emeagwali was 21 weeks pregnant when she was admitted to the Brooklyn Hospital Center where three days later she delivered a stillborn baby girl. The Hospital sent the baby’s remains to its pathology department for disposal. When Emeagwali sought the baby girl’s remains for proper burial, the Hospital was unable to tell her what had become of them. Emeagwali sued the Hospital, claiming it violated her right to properly bury her daughter when it disposed of her remains without the parents’ permission. The Hospital argued that it did not need permission because the City’s health code provided for the manner in which a hospital could dispose of a fetus which had not reached 24 weeks. A jury awarded the parents $2 million for their emotional distress. The Hospital then requested a new trial on damages.
Justice Wayne P. Saitta affirmed the jury’s award, ruling that the award was not excessive and that the Hospital violated state law when it disposed of the baby’s remains. The Hospital was governed by the state’s health regulations which required hospitals to deliver stillborns that completed 20 weeks of gestation to a licensed funeral director. The court rejected the Hospital’s argument that it had complied with the City’s health code, finding that the code was only applicable to hospitals operated and maintained by the City’s health services administration or the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.
Emeagwali v. Brooklyn Hospital Center, 2006 NY Slip Op 50221U, Feb. 22, 2006 (Kings Cty.Sup.Ct.) (Saitta, J.).