Tenn. man to be exhumed to retrieve wrong dentures

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee man's body is being exhumed to remove dentures that belong to another man after a mix-up at a Chattanooga hospital.

Parkridge Medical Center spokeswoman Alison Counts told The Chattanooga Times Free Press that the body of 76-year-old Kenneth Ray Manis will be exhumed after his family learned the dentures belonged to an intensive care patient who shared the same hospital room.

Court records obtained by the newspaper showed Manis died on June 12. The dentures were with personal items placed inside his coffin. Counts said Manis' family asked that the dentures be removed.

The hospital has apologized and will be paying for new dentures, as well as reburial costs and attorney's fees. The hospital declined to identify the patient who lost his dentures.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.