You just know something went wrong with your surgery when homicide detectives give you a follow-up call.

John Timiriasieff, 56, of Key Largo, Fla., had his right leg amputated below the knee at Doctors Hospital in Coral Gables in October 2014. About a month later, police contacted him to ask how the leg ended up among municipal garbage. They'd found it at a waste management facility, with Mr. Timiriasieff's name tag still attached, and feared he'd been the victim of a crime.

Mr. Timiriasieff called Doctors Hospital, a member of the Baptist Health South Florida system, seeking an explanation for why his amputated leg was discarded and not incinerated, as is standard practice. He even wrote a letter to the hospital's administrator. But no answers were forthcoming.

His lawsuit, filed in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court last week, seeks $15,000 in damages for emotional distress, the hospital's failure to take responsibility for negligence, and violation of patient privacy regulations.

The hospital's conduct, the lawsuit argues, is "outrageous and beyond all bounds of human decency as to be regarded as odious and utterly intolerable in a civilized society."

After the lawsuit was filed, the hospital announced in an e-mailed statement that it had taken "immediate and appropriate measures to address" the situation, including the implementation of preventive procedural actions.

Mr. Timiriasieff's attorney and hospital representatives declined further comment on the case.

David Bernard