Dead Drunk: Polish Man Passes Out Drinking . . . Wakes Up In Body Bag Awaiting An Autopsy In Morgue

There is an interesting potential tort action out of Poland. In the United States, there is heightened liability standards for the mishandling of corpses. However, what if you mishandle a person who you thought was a corpse? That is what happened to Marek Michalski, 56, who drank himself into a stupor and passed out on a bench in Pieotrkow, Poland. He was assumed dead and bagged and sent to the morgue. He woke up in a body bag in the morgue and had to roll off a table to free himself from the body bag.

The first negligence occurred with the ambulance crew who clearly detected no pulse. Obviously there was a pulse but alcohol can certainly suppress it. That is why he was taken to a hospital. The hospital released a statement that “They [the staff] believed that the man was dead and followed procedure by putting him inside a sealed bag.” They “believed that the man was dead”? How does that work. “Hey Doc does he look dead?” “Yup, he has many of the characteristics of a dead guy. He is not moving. He is cold. Yup, he is dead.”

Here is the same doctor at work collecting the dead from the streets of Pieotrkow:

Michalski is, not surprisingly, planning to sue and says that he has recurring nightmares of being the subject of a live autopsy. In the United States, it would be a slam-dunk for negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress. He may however want to consider a 12-step program after his resurrection.