Woman sues hospital after giving consent to switch off stranger's life support she believed was her brother

A woman who switched off the life support of a stranger she believed to be her brother is suing the New York hospital she says is responsible for the mix-up.

Shirell Powell has launched legal action against St Barnabas Hospital after she was told her brother, Frederick Williams, 40, had been admitted to hospital and was unlikely to pull through.

Ms Powell, 48, rushed to the bedside of the man who was admitted unconscious on 15 July after an apparent overdose, and whose appearance was obscured by a neck brace and breathing tubes.

She contacted family members, including her brother’s two daughters, and they grieved at his bedside for nine days after doctors declared him brain dead before switching off his ventilation.

It was only after an autopsy by the New York Medical Examiner’s Office, that the family say they were told that the man they were mourning was the similarly named Freddy Clarence Williams, also 40.

“I nearly fainted because I killed somebody that I didn’t even know. I gave consent,” Ms Powell told the told the New York Post, which first reported the suit.

Her real brother, meanwhile, had been arrested for assault on 1 July and had not been in touch with family.

Ms Powell, 48, is suing the hospital for an unspecified amount, alleging its negligence led to “severe emotional harm and injuries”, according to documents filed with the Bronx Supreme Court, which St Barnabas disputes.

Ms Powell said her brother was a previous patient of the hospital, and she had been called as next of kin when the similarly named man was admitted.

While another sister was initially unconvinced the larger man was their brother, Ms Powell said facial resemblances changed her mind.

“He had tubes in his mouth, a neck brace,” she told The Post. “He was a little swollen… [But] he resembled my brother so much.

“He couldn’t speak from the time they brought him in the hospital. They just assumed it was my brother.”

Ms Powell alleges staff should have noticed the differences in the two men’s names, as well as the different social security number, which Freddy Clarence Williams had on him at the time.

She says she still gets upset over the case and says she sought to contact Freddy Clarence Williams’ family but the hospital would not release any information as she is not a relative.

St Barnabas Hospital was approached for comment but did not immediately respond. A spokesperson told The Post it does not comment on pending legal cases but said: “We don’t feel there is any merit to this claim.”