Dying Man Objects to "Forced" Autopsy
James Ross, 71, of Seattle, WA, is fighting against a rare form of lung cancer due to asbestos exposure after working many years as a brakeman and conductor. Ross is also fighting a requirement that says he must undergo an autopsy after his death, which is a requirement in order for his estate to file a lawsuit(s) against the responsible companies involved.
Ross objects to the autopsy based on his own personal belief that an autopsy results in ultimate destruction and disfiguration of the body, according to court documents. Ross is also arguing that the autopsy is unnecessary to confirm the diagnosis.
Washington state law specifies that participants in asbestos legislation can opt out of an autopsy if they cite religious beliefs.
According to court documents, if the court refuses to honor Ross’s request to forgo the autopsy, they may be in violation of Washington's statute governing autopsies and breaks fundamental notions of religious freedom and equal protection.
Mr.Ross and family, God be with you all in this awful time of reality that what has happened to you all was done to you all. Many people who are diagnosed with Meso or any other cancer with no cure,these people need to be left alone untouched by the butchers who want to make that extra dime off of you before you die and after you die.I see alot of this,big business at the expense of the sick and dieing.A lady 28 years old was the first human to survive Meso.Sure, they took the lining of her lungs,lining of her stomach and the lining around her heart.Oh but she has since died but I sure as hell would not call that any kind of survival.I want to be on the tuffest drugs known to man to ease my pain but my human pain is for those and what I leave behind.All my family suffering and dying as I because we all lived and breathed the deadly air of Libby Montana. Isn’t dying from asbestos enough to prove cause of death with out disecting people???? Pretty morbid/cold blooded people out their.Love every moment Ross,they can’t take that away from you nor I.God Bless……………….Mike Crill and exposed family
My mother died a year, ago, last July, at the age of 92., from Asbestos Mesothelioma. She was one of the most perfect person that I have ever known, in all ways. She just lived two months, after they found out what she had, in my home with my family, and it was a teriable, painful death, and she did nothing in her life to deserve it.She had such stong faith that she never gave up,untill two days before her death. She would have never wanted a autopsy, after her death either.Her mother had lived to be over one hundred and one, and I believe, she would have past that. Six months later my 72 year old brother died, from lung diease, and he had told us all that he thought he had the same thing, but the doctors never checked because he was a smoker. He lived in her home for over twenty years before they both died. Karen