CI Case 167
CI patient #167 was a 65 year old male from California. The patient was a CI member at the time of his death.
The patient died unexpectedly at home. It was estimated that he died around 10 pm on Tuesday, March 27th, but he was found and pronounced around 10 am the next day, the 28th. He was brought to the medical examiner’s office and the coroner called us because the patient was wearing an emergency bracelet. The patient’s Objection to Autopsy form and signed next of kin documents were faxed to the medical examiner’s office to get the coroner to release the patient. They agreed to release the patient and to keep him in the refrigeration unit until the funeral home staff came to bring him to their facility. Once the funeral home had the patient in their care, the staff informed us that the soonest they could get the patient to us would be Monday, due to private circumstances. Because of this and the hours of warm ischemia between the patient’s death and discovery, it was decided that the patient would be straight frozen and the funeral home was provided with the dry ice guidelines. The necessary paperwork was obtained and the flight was made for the patient to arrive on Monday night, but the funeral home called to inform CI staff that the patient’s flight had to be changed and he would be on the red eye flight to arrive early on Tuesday morning.
The patient arrived at the CI facility at 8:45 am on the 3rd of April, approximately six and a half days after death.