Family Thought They Took Brother Off Life Support — Only To See Him Walk Through The Door. Wrong man taken off life support in Illinois
CHICAGO Ill. (CNN) – A Chicago man died after wrongfully being taken off life support.
On May 13, a hospital social worker called the sisters of Alfonso Bennett and told them he was in ICU. Once they arrived at the hospital they couldn’t identify him.
“They had him on a ventilator and they had a tube in his mouth.” said sister Rosie Brooks.
Hospital staff told his relatives he had been beaten badly, especially in the face. He was found near 47th and Wabash on April 29.
The man reportedly has a background and is rarely in touch with his four sisters. One sister said a nurse told her police identified him through mugshots and not fingerprints because of budget cuts.
“You don’t identify a person through a mugshot versus fingerprints. Fingerprints carry everything.” said sister Brenda Bennett-Johnson.
The sisters said the man responded to commands by raising his hand, but never opened his eyes.
The sisters signed papers to take him off a ventilator and gave permission for doctors to perform a tracheotomy.
Then he went into hospice.
After making funeral arrangements, the sisters received a call from one of their other sisters.
“‘Brenda! Brenda! It’s Alfonso! It’s Alfonso! It’s Alfonso.’ I said, ‘You’re kidding!’ I almost had a heart attack.” Bennett-Johnson said.
Alphonso Bennett was alive and had walked through the door.
“It’s sad it happened like that. If it was our brother and we had to go through that, that would have been a different thing. But we made all kinds of decisions on someone that wasn’t our family,” Bennett-Johnson said.
The police are now searching for the man’s relatives.
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