They made a grave error.
A determined lady spent greater than a yr trying to find her lacking brother who vanished in NYC –solely to search out out he had died and was buried in a pauper’s grave as a result of “careless” hospital staff misspelled his identify by one incorrect letter, in accordance with a lawsuit.
Employees at Manhattan’s Mt. Sinai West hospital bungled the spelling of 50-year-old Robert Maguire’s identify on official paperwork, the go well with alleges.
In line with metropolis information, the letter “g” was modified to a “q” and wrongly rendering it on the paperwork as “Maquire.”
Due to the small however consequential error, the submitting claims no household was capable of be discovered for the 50-year-old, down-on-his-luck welder after he went lacking throughout a quick, 2025 layover at at Midtown’s Port Authority Bus Terminal whereas on a visit to Pennsylvania.
With no subsequent of kin, town handled Maguire as an unclaimed “John Doe” and saved his physique in a chilly morgue for months earlier than burying him on Hart Island that Could — all with out his household’s information or consent, the go well with says.
“Because of the defendants’ failures to look or failure to look correctly and misspelling the decedent’s final identify, the decedent was as an alternative prompted to be buried on Hart Island,” the go well with alleges.
After Maguire went lacking, his determined household searched relentlessly for him, however due to the paperwork spelling error, their searches turned up empty, the go well with claims.
Which means the household by no means knew that after arriving at Port Authority throughout his NYC layover, he fell ailing and was admitted to Mt. Sinai West on January 13, 2025 — the place he died two days later, in accordance with the lawsuit.
When he was admitted, he was carrying correct ID and the hospital accurately recording his date of delivery — however in some unspecified time in the future workers took his identify down incorrect, the household claims.
In line with town’s Hart Island lookup instrument, he was registered as “Maquire.”
The straightforward mistake left his household — together with sister Kathy Troutman who filed the lawsuit this week — dwelling a year-long nightmare.
Troutman mentioned in an interview with the lacking individuals podcast “The Vanished,” that her brother had been touring from his residence in Wilmington, Del., to see a cousin Pennsylvania when the household had misplaced monitor of him.
“Bobby by no means made it to my cousin,” Troutman mentioned. “He simply disappeared.”
They filed a lacking individuals report after he vanished — and endlessly known as the NYPD, Port Authority, and the Medical Examiner’s workplace.
The distraught household begged authorities to search for Maguire, who has a extremely recognizable, closely bandaged proper arm — the results of a horrific, bone-deep canine chew that required main surgical procedure and left his arm mainly ineffective, they instructed the podcast.
“That’s why we’ve known as the health worker’s workplace a number of occasions,” Troutman mentioned in her podcast interview. “Do you may have this particular person with a horrible arm damage?”
However due to the clerical error, the household was repeatedly instructed no such particular person existed, in accordance with the go well with — solely studying the reality simply three days shy of the anniversary of his dying.
It wasn’t clear precisely how the error was found or how Maguire’s physique was discovered by his household, members of which didn’t return requests for remark. Troutman’s lawyer declined to remark.
In the meantime, the lawsuit claims town nonetheless hasn’t returned Bobby’s physique to his household.
Troutman’s go well with accuses town and hospital of “pure carelessness,” arguing a easy search would have simply positioned his subsequent of kin.
The town’s health worker’s workplace claims it carried out a next-of-kin search primarily based on the misspelled hospital information, however declined to touch upon whether or not they have been requested to search for his distinctive bodily accidents or if Maguire has been disinterred from Hart Island but.
Lucia Lee, a spokesperson for Mount Sinai, mentioned “it will be inappropriate to remark” on pending litigation, however famous the community has strict affected person identification protocols.
“We’ve been misplaced on our personal with all this,” Troutman mentioned within the podcast, sharing that she suspected her brother’s robust occasions might have led to a lower than diligent seek for him.
No explanation for dying has been revealed for Maguire as town health worker’s workplace didn’t do an post-mortem as a result of he died in a hospital of what was recorded as pure causes. The household mentioned he had substance abuse points, and had been dwelling in a tent as a result of he was unable to work earlier than his dying.
“It’s a disgrace as a result of it doesn’t make you any much less lovable,” she mentioned, “It doesn’t make you any much less cared for.”
“All people issues, regardless of who it’s,” Maguire’s dad, Ron, instructed the podcast. “These individuals might have had a traumatic expertise all through their life — you matter.”
