Woman thought she took her brother off life support. It was a stranger, lawsuit says

Shirell Powell thought she was mourning the death of her brother, but instead learned she had given a hospital the go-ahead to take a stranger off life support instead, a lawsuit says.

Powell’s brother — identified as Frederick Williams — was inside the Rikers Island jail complex in New York City after he was arrested on July 1, according to The New York Post.

But in mid-July, a doctor at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx called Powell and offered some bad news.

Her brother was in the hospital with brain damage and likely wouldn’t “make it,” the doctor told Powell, according to her lawsuit in the Bronx Supreme Court. Frederick Williams had been a patient before at the hospital, which had contact information for his family.

There was just one problem: The man in the hospital wasn’t her brother Frederick Williams, but instead was a man named Freddy Clarence Williams, the lawsuit says.

But Powell, unaware of the mix-up, says she treated the man as her brother.

However, not everyone was as certain. Powell told The New York Post that at first, her sister didn’t believe the man in the hospital was their brother. She said “the guy was much bigger” — but they chalked the size difference up to swelling.

The lawsuit says Powell stayed by what she thought was her brother’s side from July 17 to July 29, when she took him off life support. She told The New York Post that one of Frederick Williams’ children “was hysterical” and “was kissing him, crying” as they watched the man go off of life support.

A few weeks later, and the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner made a startling discovery during an autopsy: The deceased man was identified as Freddy Clarence Williams, the lawsuit says. That means that Powell and her family had been mourning a complete stranger — and made the final decision to end his life.

Now, Powell’s lawsuit seeks compensation for emotional damages that stemmed from the incident.

“I barely sleep thinking about this all the time,’’ Powell told The New York Post. “To actually stand over him and watch this man take his last breath — sometimes I can’t even talk about it because I get upset and start crying.”