Florida Hurricane Claims Appear Inflated ; 192 More Funerals Than Storm Deaths

Summary

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Florida officially recorded 123 fatalities from last year's hurricanes, but the federal government has paid funeral expenses for at least 315 deaths, including those of a man who shot himself and a stroke victim hospitalized more than a week before the last storm hit.

In one case, a Federal Emergency Management Agency worker tried unsuccessfully to persuade a coroner to count among the hurricane casualties a "morbidly obese" heart patient who purportedly was "scared to death."

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Florida Hurricane Claims Appear Inflated ; 192 More Funerals Than Storm Deaths

"If you were to call around to all the medical examiner offices, people would say, 'No way did we have as many deaths as FEMA is ...

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