Efraim Rivera, 30, had his finger cut off last February in an argument in Brooklyn. Police and paramedics packed the finger on ice and took it and Rivera to Bellevue, which is noted for surgical reattachment, the Post reported.

About an hour later, a nurse told Rivera they lost the finger and asked him to sign a waiver saying he no longer wanted the finger, said the lawsuit filed last week in Brooklyn Supreme Court against the city Health and Hospitals Corp., Bellevue's owner.

Rivera, a warehouse worker in New Jersey, refused to sign the waiver and was billed $3,000 for treatment, the Post reported.

"It's a permanent loss," said Rivera's lawyer, Myron Lasser. "It's going to inhibit his earning capacity."