An intensive care patient at Parkridge Medical Center lost his dentures last week when a hospital employee mistakenly gave them to the family of a dead man who had occupied the same room.
Court records show that Kenneth Ray Manis, 76, died June 12 at Parkridge. His personal belongings — along with the dentures that weren’t his — were placed in a box inside the coffin at Chattanooga National Cemetery.
Now Manis’ body is being exhumed after his family learned of the dentures and requested “that the personal belongings that don’t belong to the deceased be extracted from the coffin,” according to hospital spokeswoman Alison Counts.
Parkridge apologized to both families, Counts said.
A court order drafted by Hamilton County Chancellor Frank Brown states Parkridge “shall bear the costs of such interment and reburial,” along with attorney fees up to $1,250.
“We’re also paying for new dentures,” Counts said. “We hope that this will bring peace and closure to the Manis family.”