Cybart v. Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center
| Decision Date | 30 June 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 76-1052,76-1052 |
| Citation | 365 N.E.2d 1002,50 Ill.App.3d 411 |
| Parties | , 8 Ill.Dec. 616 Norman CYBART and Viola Beers, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. MICHAEL REESE HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL CENTER, an Illinois Corporation, James Nickson, A. Chedid Turbay and Paul Portnuff, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
Sherwin & Sherwin, Chicago, for plaintiffs-appellants.
French & Rogers, Chicago, for defendants-appellees.
This is an appeal from the circuit court of Cook County. At the close of all the evidence in the trial court, the trial judge allowed a motion by the defendants for a directed verdict of not guilty. This is an appeal from that order.
There are two issues presented for review: (1) whether or not the trial court erred in granting the motion for a directed verdict; and (2) whether or not the coroner was without legal authority to order an autopsy.
The facts of the case are, one Wanda Cybart was admitted as a patient at Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center. She was suffering from Hodgkin's disease, a form of cancer. On April 24, 1970, she died. An autopsy was performed at the direction of the Coroner of Cook County. When the brother and sister of the deceased spoke to the undertaker, they were informed of the fact an autopsy had been performed. This suit was instituted on the ground there was no authority for the defendants to perform an autopsy, and for damages for the mental anguish her brother and sister allegedly suffered when they learned of the autopsy. At the end of plaintiffs' case, the trial court directed a verdict for the defendants.
Chapter 31, sec. 10.2, Ill.Rev.Stat. (1969), provides:
"Where a death has occurred and the circumstances concerning the death are suspicious, obscure, mysterious, and in the opinion of the examining physician and the coroner the cause of death cannot be established definitely except by autopsy, it is declared that the public interest requires that an autopsy be performed, and it shall be the duty and responsibility of the coroner to cause an autopsy to be performed."
In the instant case, no physician was willing to sign a death certificate stating the cause of death before an autopsy was performed. Under sec. 10.4 of Chapter 31, Ill.Rev.Stat. (1969), the coroner must have a cause of death in order to issue the death certificate, which is required by law. It was the duty of the coroner to order an autopsy and it was the duty of the hospital and its staff under sec. 10.1 of Chapter 31, Ill.Rev.Stat. (1969) to perform the autopsy and certify the cause of death to the coroner.
On oral argument, the attorney for the plaintiffs admitted he could not, and did not prove any compensatory damages for the plaintiffs. Neither the brother nor the sister had sought medical treatment for emotional distress. He also admitted there was no inherent value to the cadaver. Where there is no proof of damages for a compensatory count, it is an exercise in...
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Tomasits v. Cochise Memory Gardens, Inc., 2
...procedure for disinterment has in some cases precluded an award of punitive damages. See, e.g., Cybart v. Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center, 50 Ill.App.3d 411, 365 N.E.2d 1002 (1977). Courts have also construed such statutes as mandatory and held that any agreements made in contrave......