Sudbury, Ont., family traumatized after hospital said loved one had been released, when in fact they had passed away

Sudbury resident Angela Vitiello says a staff member at Health Sciences North told her that her brother, Allan St. Martin, was released from the hospital late last month when, in fact, he had passed away.

Sudbury resident Angela Vitiello says a staff member at Health Sciences North told her that her brother, Allan St. Martin, was released from the hospital late last month when, in fact, he had passed away.

The hospital has since apologized for the tragic mistake, but the family wants the public to know something like this could happen to anyone.

Vitiello said she began looking for her brother Nov. 30 when St. Martin's daughter sent her a message asking if she had heard from her dad.

The father and daughter had plans to get together that day, but her niece said he wasn't answering his phone or answering his door.

When a check by the building's superintendent confirmed St. Martin wasn't in his apartment, Vitiello told her niece to call HSN. Her brother, a diabetic, would sometimes go there when suffering complications.

Her niece called, only to be told St. Martin wasn't there. Vitiello called herself and said she dealt with a rude clerk who complained she was "the ninth person that had called" about St. Martin.