Z-DELETE,None — A local family told Channel 2 Action News that they are frustrated after officials in Fulton County did not tell them that their loved one was at the morgue for more than a week.
Robert Person, 53, was walking home from an appointment on July 26 when he collapsed, police said. An ambulance rushed him to Emory Hospital in midtown Atlanta, where he died. His body was then taken to the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office.
Person's family said his body lay unidentified for more than a week at the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office, even though they called several times to inquire if his body was there.
However, officials at the medical examiner's office thought Person was unidentified based on information from the hospital.
"They told us they had a decedent and he didn't have any ID," said Paul Desamours with the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office.
So the medical examiner's office launched an investigation to try to figure out who Person was. They said they were going off a pill bottle found on him with his name on it. But his family told Channel 2 Action News reporter Eric Philips that there was much more on him.
"His Social Security card…a whole page of phone numbers," a relative said. "Everything they could ever want."
Those items went with Person to the medical examiner's office, where they were essentially overlooked for a week while investigators there tried to confirm who he was.
The family said the medical examiner's office told them three times that Person was not there. Meanwhile, the family started searching and handing out fliers.
A missing persons report filed by Person's brother eventually led to the family being notified eight days later. The family said that's unacceptable.
"I'm just thinking now at this point, who can you trust?" a relative said.
"We certainly sympathize with the family. We wish we had done a better job," said Desamours.