(JTA) — A Brooklyn man who was declared dead despite his heart continuing to beat on life support in the hospital has died.

Yechezkel Nakar, 68, died Tuesday, 21 days after New York-Presbyterian Hospital issued a death certificate for him on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, the New York Post reported Saturday, citing the man’s attorney.

Nakar had suffered a stroke after being admitted to the hospital.  Doctors at the hospital declared him brain dead on May 31 and issued an electronic death certificate. He was then transferred, on life support, to Maimonides Medical Center, where he died 21 days later.

His wife, Sarah, had objected to taking her husband off life support for religious reasons. She had filed a lawsuit against the hospital asking the court to rescind the death certificate so she could file insurance claims for his current treatment. No ruling on the lawsuit had been made before Nakar’s death.

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