【读新闻学英语】女子以为“亲人”无抢救希望而同意拔掉呼吸机，没想到死者竟然是陌生人！

She was told her brother was dying, so Shirell Powell hurried to St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx last July.

去年7月，Shirell Powell被告知她的兄弟就快去世了，于是她匆忙赶到了位于Bronx 的St. Barnabas医院。

hurried：匆忙的

The prognosis was bad, Powell was told. Her brother, Frederick Williams, was unconscious from an apparent drug overdose and had suffered severe brain damage. Doctors didn't believe he was going to make it.

Powell被告知，兄弟Frederick Williams的情况很糟糕。他因为明显的吸毒过量而没有了意识，而且遭受了严重的大脑损伤。医生不相信他能挺过去。

prognosis：预测

unconscious：无意识

She sat at his bedside, looking at the 40-year-old man on life support, tubes obscuring his face, and cried. Soon, she called his family in Virginia, including two teen daughters, and told them they needed to drive up to say their goodbyes. When it became clear two weeks later that he was not going to recover, Powell gave permission to St. Barnabas to withdraw life support from the man she believed was her brother.

她坐在床边，看着这个40岁的男人靠着各种管子维持生命，遮住了脸，哭了。随后，她给兄弟在Virginia的家人打电话，告知了他的两个女儿，让他们快点开车来医院告别。2周后，很明显Frederick Williams没能康复，Powell同意St. Barnabas医院拔掉那个她认为是自己兄弟的男人身上维持生命的各种管子。

obscuring：遮住

permission：许可

Only there was one big problem：He wasn't. Instead, it was another 40-year-old man named Freddy Clarence Williams.

但最大的问题是，那个男人不是她兄弟。相反，是另外一个名叫Freddy Clarence Williams的40岁男人。

instead：反而

Now, Powell is suing St. Barnabas Hospital and seeking unspecified damages after discovering her brother is still alive and that she signed off on the death of a stranger.

现在，Powell起诉了St. Barnabas医院。发现她的兄弟还活着，但是她却给另外一个陌生人的死亡签字，对这些事情她要求未明确的赔偿。

unspecified：未明确的

signed off：签署

The hospital had mixed up the two men with similar names, and the error was apparently not discovered until the city medical examiner's office performed an autopsy. The two men looked enough alike, Powell said she simply believed his face was only swollen because of the brain damage.

是医院把两个人的名字弄混了，直到尸检时才发现了这个错误。这两个男人长得也很像，Powell说她简单的以为他的脸是因为脑损伤而肿胀。

autopsy：尸检

As it turns out, there was a good reason nobody had heard from the living Frederick Williams: He's in jail.

事实证明，为什么没有人知道关于活着的Frederick Williams的信息，是因为他在监狱里。

As it turns out：事实证明

New York Department of Correction records shows that Williams was arrested July 1, 2018, on a misdemeanor assault charge and had been jailed, unbeknownst to Powell or other family members.

纽约惩教署的记录显示，2018年7月1日Williams因为不正当行为而被指控罪后被捕入狱，但Powell或其他家庭成员都不知情。

misdemeanor：不正当行为

unbeknownst：瞒着