Woman In Legal Battle With Hospital To Return Dead Husband’s Heart 9 Years Later

Jerry Carswell died unexpectedly in 2004 at hospital in Texas and wife, Linda, is still waiting to get her husband’s heart back.

Jerry, who was a track coach, died at Christus St. Catherine Hospital while he was being treated for kidney stones. 

Linda has since become embroiled in a legal feud with the hospital over her husband’s heart, which has been stored in a lab for almost ten years.

The legal battle began when Linda sued Christus for not carrying out the autopsy on her dead husband’s body that she had wanted.

Linda asked for a forensic autopsy by the medical examiner, in which evidence would be collected, that could confirm or rule out her belief that Jerry’s death as a result from drugs given by the nurses.

A jury found the hospital committed fraud by having its own pathologist from St. Joseph Medical Center, perform a regular autopsy on the man and the family were unaware that the hospital had kept his heart until long after Jerry’s burial.

The late Jerry Carswell.

The Carswell family lawyer said, "What we have is a finding that they committed fraud on Mrs. Carswell, by telling her they were going to do an in-house autopsy that was going to be the same as it would happen if it was the medical center or an independent autopsy."

Linda was awarded almost $2 million but insist her family need closure and will not get it until his heart is returned to them.      

"As a family we can respectfully bury Jerry and come to some sort of closure that we've done the right thing for the person we love," Linda said.

St. Joseph Medical Center gave a statement to Houston television station KTRK that officials there, "intend to cooperate fully with the court's decision provided there are no further legal interventions in the case," suggesting closure may be coming soon for the Carswell family.