Sixth Circuit requests Supreme Court's guidance on issue of "property interest" in loved one's brain

Karen Waeschle sued the Medical Examiner of Oakland County, Ljubisa Dragovic, after he incinerated Waeschle's mother's brain following an autopsy.  The 88 year old mother had fallen in a nursing home prior to her death and her body was sent to Dragovic for a post mortem.  The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the medical examiner was personally entitled to "qualified immunity" for incinerating the brain, since he did not deny Waeschle a well-established due process right, but also directed the lower court to seek input from the Michigan Supreme Court with regard to whether the County might be institutionally liable for denial of a protected Michigan right.