Gawker
Jackson had gone missing earlier this year. When an unidentified woman died in a Philadelphia hospital on July 20th, authorities matched the body to Jackson’s missing-person’s report. Jackson had been dealing with drug and mental health problems, and her family had been trying to find her. Her son saw the pictures of the body, and positively identified the body as Jackson.
“If someone comes in and they’re a family member and say, ‘That’s my mom,’ that’s generally good enough,” Philadelphia Department of Health spokesman James Garrow said.
https://gawker.com/woman-found-alive-two-weeks-after-her-own-funeral-1193752487
By Max Rivlin-Nadler
Huffington Post
The mix-up came as a surprise since Jackson’s son identified the body.
“The gold standard here [for identifying a body] is visual identification by a family member,” so the son’s identification was taken as fact, Philadelphia Health Department spokesman James Garrow told The Huffington Post.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/woman-alive-days-after-funeral-sharolyn-jackson_n_3805276
By Amanda Scherker
Inquirer
A Philly Horizon House worker and Jackson’s son, Travis Jackson, 30, identified her from a photo. A medical examiner signed a death certificate and released what they thought was Jackson’s body.
“If someone comes in and they’re a family member and say, ‘That’s my mom,’ that’s generally good enough,” city Health Department spokesman James Garrow said.
https://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20130825_She_s_alive__so_who_s_in_that_grave_.html
By David Gambacorta
USA Today
The medical examiner determined the woman died of heat stroke, signed a death certificate and released the body to the family, Philadelphia Department of Health spokesman James Garrow said.
“If someone comes in and they’re a family member and say, ‘That’s my mom,’ that’s generally good enough,” Garrow said.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/23/woman-alive-after-funeral/2694005/
By Staff
CBS3
A representative of the Philadelphia Health Department says all proper procedures were followed by workers and, with two people, including a family member, identifying her, it was following protocol to release the body.
By Walt Hunter
Fox29
The Collected Works of Jim Garrow 