Which Body?

I had written on correct identification of the patient, the disease and the side of the body on which to operate to avoid criminal negligence. It was but a few days ago. Yesterday I read something in the newspapers that topped everything that might have happened in this vein before. It seems in one of the hospitals in the city the nurse told the servant to pack a dead body and send it to the mortuary. The servant removed intravenous line of the patient he thought was dead, and packed his nostrils with cotton, as is the practice followed before sending the body to the mortuary. The relative of this patient kept telling him that it was not this fellow who was dead, but the one on the next bed. The patient himself was in coma so that he had no say in the matter. The servant refused to listen to the relative and did what he had to do. So this live one also died, allegedly due to suffocation. He could have opened his mouth to breathe and would not have died so. But the relatives were not expected to understand this. Even if they understood this, the gravity of the situation is not lessened a bit by that fact. It was criminal negligence of the utmost type. Why the servant would not listen to the relative is beyond understanding. He may be under the influence of something he should not be while on duty at least. Or he thought he could diagnose death much better than the relative. Or perhaps the nurse showed him the wrong body. It is also beyond understanding why the relatives did not physically stop the servant from doing what he did. After all, it was murder in their opinion. Perhaps the servant was very strong while the relative was relatively weak.