Elderly NYC woman Edna Utak, who survived tuberculosis, dies after injuring herself throwing out trash in a broken chute: suit

An elderly Harlem woman who survived tuberculosis and a double lung transplant was killed by an injury she suffered while throwing out the trash, her family claims in a lawsuit.

An allegedly broken trash chute cover in her East 110th Street building sparked a chain of events in March 2022 which sent Edna Utak, 70, to the hospital, where she developed complications and died weeks later, her family said in a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.

The mother of three, who weighed a mere 80 pounds and barely cleared five feet tall, had just returned from dialysis.

She was tossing out some garbage when the heavy trash chute cover — which appeared to have a broken control arm — flew open knocking her to the ground, and breaking her leg, according to court papers.

Utak was laying on the floor for about five to 10 minutes before a neighbor called Utak’s son, Ntia.

Utak, who worked for years as a home health aide, was rushed to the hospital and underwent surgery but weeks later, suffered a stroke and developed pneumonia, dying in May 2022.

“You just feel cheated,” Ntia Utak told The Post. “You just feel like this could have been avoided…. It just destroyed all of us because she was such a major part of the family, we all felt like she was our best friend.”

“It’s a very tragic case,” said family lawyer Michael Healey.

The family is suing building management companies Hope East of Fifth LLC and Hope Community Inc for unspecified damages.

Hope declined to comment.