Family of NYPD cop George Wong who died of cancer rages at city for taking body to disprove 9/11 tie
BY KATIE NELSON, ALISON GENDAR AND RICH SCHAPIRO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Originally Published:Wednesday, March 30th 2011, 2:46 PM
Updated: Wednesday, March 30th 2011, 4:20 PM
Dozens of cops and loved ones bid farewell Wednesday to a cancer-stricken officer whose body was ordered snatched from a funeral home by city officials, who relatives say were bent on proving he didn't die of a 9/11 related illness.
About 120 mourners packed into the Ng Fook funeral home in Chinatown to say goodbye to George Wong, 48, who died last Thursday of gastric cancer.
Wong's parents sat shoulder-to-shoulder during the Christian service, staring at their son's open blond wood coffin.
Hanging above it was a white sign with a poignant message in Chinese: "Brotherhood goes deep."
NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Mayor Bloomberg did not attend the service.
Before the service, Wong's brother ripped into the city.
"Taking the body was very upsetting to my family," Wong's brother, Howard Wong, 40, told the Daily News. "It was disrespect. I don't want this to ever happen to any other family."
Wong's mother, Mei Sin Wong, 73, patted her chest as she said softly, "My heart. It hurts."
George Wong, who spent 20 years on the force before he received a disability retirement in 2006, performed security duties at Ground Zero in the wake of the terror attacks.
His health deteriorated rapidly in recent weeks.
After Wong passed away, his hospice doctor, Lyla Correoso, listed his cause of death as cancer from "9/11 toxic exposure."
A wake was planned for 3 p.m. Monday at the funeral home on Mulberry St.
But at 2:45 p.m., while the grief-stricken Wong family was inside, the funeral home received frantic calls from the Medical Examiner's office demanding they return the body to the morgue.
The city apparently disputed the wording on the death certificate.
The family was flabbergasted. The funeral home refused, ordering the ME's office to get the body themselves - after the Wong family's service was over.
Officials removed the body from the funeral home at 10 p.m. Monday, forcing the Wongs to postpone the funeral service scheduled for Tuesday.
The medical examiner's office only released the body back to the funeral home after scrubbing any mention of 9/11 from the death certificate.
The Wong family refused to authorize an autopsy, so only an external exam was conducted.
Mayor Bloomberg said the Medical Examiner's office was only following the letter of the law.
"When there is a death that the death certificate says is not of natural causes, the Medical Examiner is required by law to go and to perform whatever they think is appropriate."
Wong's hospice providers on Wednesday were still scratching their heads over the body snatch.
"We are as mystified as the Wong family by what happened," said Richard Rothstein, of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York. "The family is in incredible distress during a time when they should be getting support and care."
BY KATIE NELSON, ALISON GENDAR AND RICH SCHAPIRO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Originally Published:Wednesday, March 30th 2011, 2:46 PM
Updated: Wednesday, March 30th 2011, 4:20 PM
Dozens of cops and loved ones bid farewell Wednesday to a cancer-stricken officer whose body was ordered snatched from a funeral home by city officials, who relatives say were bent on proving he didn't die of a 9/11 related illness.
About 120 mourners packed into the Ng Fook funeral home in Chinatown to say goodbye to George Wong, 48, who died last Thursday of gastric cancer.
Wong's parents sat shoulder-to-shoulder during the Christian service, staring at their son's open blond wood coffin.
Hanging above it was a white sign with a poignant message in Chinese: "Brotherhood goes deep."
NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Mayor Bloomberg did not attend the service.
Before the service, Wong's brother ripped into the city.
"Taking the body was very upsetting to my family," Wong's brother, Howard Wong, 40, told the Daily News. "It was disrespect. I don't want this to ever happen to any other family."
Wong's mother, Mei Sin Wong, 73, patted her chest as she said softly, "My heart. It hurts."
George Wong, who spent 20 years on the force before he received a disability retirement in 2006, performed security duties at Ground Zero in the wake of the terror attacks.
His health deteriorated rapidly in recent weeks.
After Wong passed away, his hospice doctor, Lyla Correoso, listed his cause of death as cancer from "9/11 toxic exposure."
A wake was planned for 3 p.m. Monday at the funeral home on Mulberry St.
But at 2:45 p.m., while the grief-stricken Wong family was inside, the funeral home received frantic calls from the Medical Examiner's office demanding they return the body to the morgue.
The city apparently disputed the wording on the death certificate.
The family was flabbergasted. The funeral home refused, ordering the ME's office to get the body themselves - after the Wong family's service was over.
Officials removed the body from the funeral home at 10 p.m. Monday, forcing the Wongs to postpone the funeral service scheduled for Tuesday.
The medical examiner's office only released the body back to the funeral home after scrubbing any mention of 9/11 from the death certificate.
The Wong family refused to authorize an autopsy, so only an external exam was conducted.
Mayor Bloomberg said the Medical Examiner's office was only following the letter of the law.
"When there is a death that the death certificate says is not of natural causes, the Medical Examiner is required by law to go and to perform whatever they think is appropriate."
Wong's hospice providers on Wednesday were still scratching their heads over the body snatch.
"We are as mystified as the Wong family by what happened," said Richard Rothstein, of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York. "The family is in incredible distress during a time when they should be getting support and care."
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