An Upper East Side widow claims a reality TV show aired her late husband’s treatment, subsequent death — and even a social worker delivering the heartbreaking news to her distraught family — without their permission, according to a $5 million lawsuit filed yesterday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Mark Chanko, an 83-year-old Korean War veteran and accountant, was hit by a truck at East 79th Street and York Avenue and rushed into emergency surgery at New York Presbyterian Hospital, but succumbed to his injuries.
Anita Chanko, 73, claims that she tuned in to the award-winning hospital reality show, “NY Med,” a year later and was shocked to hear the voice of her beloved husband and the doctors who treated him.
Although the show obscured his face, she said his voice was unmistakable.
“He actually asks for her and for the family, and she was horrified, and all the other relatives watched it and were shocked and disgusted by what had happened,” said the family’s lawyer, Mark Fox.
The suit names ABC television and New York Presbyterian, and says the family didn’t give either defendant permission to film or air Chanko’s heartbreaking demise.
The segment was edited out of the episode after its initial airing when the family complained.
“The use of this intimate last moment for television without the family’s consent was tremendously stressful and upsetting.” Both New York Presbyterian and ABC declined to comment.