Published: Aug. 2, 2012 at 12:01 PM

NEW YORK, Aug. 2 (UPI) — A New York family’s lawsuit against a hospital alleges a medical school rejected a man’s corpse for being too large.

The family of George Cardel filed a lawsuit after the 59-year-old man, who weighed about 300 pounds, was pronounced dead at Long Island Jewish Medical Center after suffering a heart attack Dec. 29, 2011, the New York Daily News reported Thursday.

The lawsuit alleges Cardel’s last request was for his body to be donated to science, but the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine at Hofstra University rejected the corpse for being too large and the hospital took 13 days to return the body, resulting in heavy decomposition that led to the body needing to be cremated.

“We thought everything was taken care of until 13 days later,” said Cardel’s sister, Maryann O’Donnell.

Officials at the hospital said they attempted to donate the corpse to multiple medical schools, but there were no takers.

The lawsuit alleges “grave humiliation.”

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