Missing Torso At Center Of Lawsuit Between Medical Group, Waste Company

FARGO, ND — The discovery of a human torso is one of the more shocking elements of a lawsuit brought by a medical waste company against a Midwest-based health group, according to reports.

Monarch Waste Technologies sued Sanford Health after the torso was illegally delivered March 3 to a Monarch facility in Fargo and a Sanford worker signed for it instead of a Monarch employee, the Star Tribune reported.

A Monarch worker noticed the smell days later, according to the Tribune, which reported Monarch refused to accept the torso and contacted state authorities, but the torso disappeared.

Months after the incident, the identity of the torso remains unknown, WDAY News reported, noting the remains belonged to an older man and there were other body parts packed under the torso.

"The mismanagement of this torso/person conflicts with our protocols, theirs and the regulatory rules in properly providing final treatment of human remains, which is normally facilitated by burial or cremation,” Monarch CEO David Cardenas told The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead via email.

Sanford, which is also involved in a controversial merger with Fairview Health Services, has denied the lawsuit’s claims, including that it delivered the torso, and intends to seek legal action against Monarch, according to the Tribune. The lawsuit also accuses Sanford of staging photographs and turning off Monarch’s water, the Tribune reported.

"Sanford Health has always complied with all the proper procedures and regulations regarding these practices and to suggest otherwise is outrageous," a Sanford spokesman told the Tribune in a statement. "We look forward to the details relating to this matter coming to light during the course of this litigation."