I am saddened by the recent scene played out in Lewiston Monday, in which a dead woman’s body was allowed to lay in the street for 3½ hours.

According to the Sun Journal, an officer confirmed that it is standard policy to leave dead bodies in place until families can be notified to arrange funeral transport. An EMS spokesperson confirmed that. In this case, that process took 3½ hours while bystanders stood shocked.

I am having trouble understanding what kind of civilized society leaves its mangled dead in the busiest street in the city? It is apparent that there are some unresolved financial responsibilities between the state and EMS as to who pays for services when someone dies in public, even traumatically. As a former emergency nurse, I know there are better ways to handle this.

The business of leaving the dead in the street is a new thing and the citizens of Maine should be furious about it. Legislative stalemates are a poor excuse for permitting such a horrible accident to play out publicly for hours.

The fact that leaving dead people in the street can happen here is an outrage. How would any of us feel if it were our own loved one who lay dead for that long? How terribly distraught the family must feel.

I hope state and city legislators will get together with EMS and reassess Monday’s disservice.

A society that will not remove its dead trauma victims from public view has lost all measure of humanity.

Bonney Starbird, Auburn