Mistaken Identity-- Your Funeral or Mine?

[Mrs Behavin]

Oh my god... can you imagine!

The casket was closed for Whitney Cerak's funeral more than a month ago. Her mother, Colleen, declined to look at the body, battered as it was in a collision between a van and a tractor-trailer.

"They wanted to remember her the way she was," said Cerak's grandfather, Emil Frank.

Meanwhile, the family of Laura VanRyn, another victim of the crash, kept vigil by a hospital bed. The severely injured young woman was in a coma for a time, but the family's blog detailed the many small steps she made toward recovery: feeding herself applesauce, playing Connect Four with a therapist.

But as her condition improved, Laura Van Ryn's family realized they had the wrong woman, and Colleen Cerak realized she had not buried her daughter.

What in HELL was the coroner thinking that he mistakeningly identified the two girls wrong??

 

[lemon]

with no id, and the girls knocked out, and the girls *if unconcious* could pass as twins.

thats how.

 

[Mrs Behavin]

Why didnt they do some scientific testing to verify the identifications?

Granted that the survivor could well have been wrapped in bandages and been heavily sedated. Still, I find it hard to believe her family didn't realize that they could "not recognize" her.

 

[hhayes]

wow thats would be wierd

 

[Tim]

Re: RE: Mistaken Identity-- Your Funeral or Mine?

Why didnt they do some scientific testing to verify the identifications?

Who the families? Once the families ID the body or the victim, the M.E. closes the case as far as identification goes. Why would he doubt the families and spend hundreds of dollars on tests?

It was a mistake, plain and simple... no one to blame.

 

[Veronica]

I read that story in people.. It said that the coroner took full blame on it.

When they were taken to the hospital they werent recognizable. But the coroner didnt take further testing..

 

[Tim]

I read that story in people.. It said that the coroner took full blame on it.

When they were taken to the hospital they werent recognizable. But the coroner didnt take further testing..

Wow, this isn't easily fixed with an "I'm sorry, my mistake"

 

[Veronica]

I know.. The family of the person they THOUGHT was the alive one made a blog (i havent looked for it yet) but its a blog about her recovering and it even shows when they were told it wasnt their daughter that it was actually her friend and that they buried the wrong person.. ect. That would have to be so hard.. to go threw watching your "daughter" in pain, then finding out it wasnt even you daughter and that your daughter was buried under someone elses name and you werent even there.

 

[Mrs Behavin]

Here is part of the blog

DAWNING REALITY
Sister’s blog unveils error

Associated Press

Through a blog, Lisa VanRyn kept family and friends updated about the recovery of the woman she thought was her sister Laura. And on Wednesday it was through the blog that the family acknowledged that Laura was dead and the person they thought was Laura was Whitney Cerak, who had been presumed dead in the April 26 accident. Here are excerpts from the blog, lauravanryn.blogspot.com:


APRIL 28:

‘‘Laura was thrown about 50 feet from the van and seemed to take the brunt of the force on her left side. Laura is currently in a comatose state, and has been unconscious since the accident. This morning, she has made some small movements. There was a small move of her leg, squinting of the eyes, and some small finger movements. She has a respirator doing most of the breathing for her right now.”


MAY 12:

‘‘The speech therapist spent some time with Laura this morning and told us she was seeing some positive signs. Laura squeezed her hand a couple of times on command and also seems to be following sounds with her eyes. She is also doing some tracking of movement as well.”


MAY 26:

‘‘Yesterday we were looking at some birds and Dad said, ‘Laura, finish my sentence. The bird’s beak is ...’ And Laura said, ‘pink,’ which was pretty accurate. And if you ask her to look to her right or left she does that most of the time. As far as recognizing us ... we think that sometimes she does, and sometimes she doesn’t.”


MAY 29:

‘‘While certain things seem to be coming back to her, she still has times where she’ll say things that don’t make much sense.’’


MAY 30:

‘‘Our hearts are aching as we have learned that the young woman we have been taking care of over the past five weeks has not been our dear Laura, but instead a fellow Taylor student of hers, Whitney Cerak.”

 

[SilentEyz]

When I read the story in the World news, It said one of the circumstances leading up to the mis-identification, was that near the one girl who was being taken to the hospital was a purse with ID, it was sent with her, but contained the ID of the other girl.

The only reason they even discovered the confusion as early as they did was when she was finally able to speak, she asked the people in the room who they were.

It is hard to imagine that even under the worst circumstances you would not know or reconize your own child, although the parents admit they were baffled by alot of the girls behavior, they never felt concerned.

 

[Haus]

holy shit.