Lawsuit: Brooklyn couple given wrong stillborn baby's body
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By ADRIENNE SUPINO, @asupinofox5
MYFOXNY.COM -
A couple from Brooklyn buried their stillborn baby in their native Poland earlier this year only to later find out the body they buried was not of their child. The medical examiner's office apparently mixed up Justyna and Rafal Sliwa's baby with another.
In May they held a memorial for the baby, whom they called Angel, in Brooklyn and flew the body to Poland for a Catholic family burial.
Weeks later, still grieving, they received this call from the OCME.
The medical examiner's office told Fox 5 news that it has "notified both families as soon as the mistake was discovered and are trying to make right what's happened." The office claims that the two babies had "strikingly similar last names."
The other baby is still interred in Poland. That family has not come forward.
The Sliwas are suing the medical examiner's office and the city for $5 million. Their attorney, Susan Karten, said this is one of a series of mistakes by the OCME.
The Sliwa family is demanding an independent investigation and DNA tests to confirm that the baby at the office is indeed their child.
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