CENTER MORICHES, N.Y. (AP) – A hospital that accidentally placed the amputated leg of a deceased patient in a plastic bag with the personal belongings of another patient apologized Tuesday and a spokeswoman said officials were trying to determine how the error may have occurred.

“We regret that the situation has happened … and we have expressed our feelings to the family,” said Nancy Uzo, a spokeswoman for Central Suffolk Hospital in Riverhead on eastern Long Island. She added that the hospital was investigating how the mistake happened and would take any corrective action to prevent a repeat.

The gruesome discovery was made on Monday, when Christopher Runyan received the personal belongings of his father Paul, 77, who died at the hospital last week. The bag was given to Runyan by employees of Sinnickson’s Moriches Funeral Home, which handled the elder Runyan’s funeral and collected the belongings.

for the family from the hospital.

Suffolk County police Sgt. George Kelly said Tuesday that an investigation determined that the severed leg belonged to a man named James Jordan, 82, of Calverton. Jordan had a history of diabetes and had the leg amputated at some point prior to his death on Jan. 13, police said.

The county medical examiner’s office was making arrangements to return the leg to Jordan’s relatives, Kelly said. Jordan’s body has already been cremated, the sergeant said.

“We believe it was just a case of human error,” Kelly said.

Aside from saying that an investigation would be conducted, the hospital spokeswoman declined to comment on how the error may have happened, citing patient confidentiality rules.

Lee W. Sinnickson said in a statement that it is funeral home policy “not to open the contents of a decedent’s personal effects.”

AP-ES-02-01-05 1416EST