The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office has officially reversed its ruling that two Riverside women found dead in a hotel whirlpool had committed suicide.

Meanwhile, the husbands of both women have jointly retained a law firm to see whether there might have been any grounds for filing negligence or wrongful death claims against the hotel where the two women were found.

Last week, a secretary for Dr. Joseph Cogan, who performed the autopsies on Nancy DeLise, 63, and Karen Lee, 68, said that the deaths were declared “accidental drowning due to multiple sclerosis.”

Mariano DeLise, the husband of Nancy DeLise, said Monday that while the reversal by the medical examiner was welcome, there are still many questions that remain unanswered.

“We’re relieved that we’ve gotten what should’ve happened in the first place,” DeLise said. “The rest will be investigated by the legal people.”

The reversal came on the heels of howls of protests from the families of both women, who said that DeLise and Lee had no intention of committing suicide and that they had gone to the Holiday Inn at 6201 Joliet Road in Countryside on April 26 to use the whirlpool for medical relief. Both women had been suffering from multiple sclerosis, a disease of the central nervous system, for many years.

DeLise had reportedly used hot tubs and other alternative treatments for her MS in the past. It was the first such hot tub treatment for Lee, according to her daughter, Kim Fedorski.

The Cook County Medical Examiner ruled the two deaths suicides before talking with family members who could have provided some insight. Both families were outraged. To make matters worse, the bodies of the two women were misidentified at the hospital. Lee’s body was sent to the Wheaton funeral home that was supposed to receive DeLise’s body.

Mr. DeLise called the situation “a comedy of errors.” He also said he still has not heard from anyone at the medical examiner’s office about the reversal of the ruling or an explanation of why the death certificate was changed.

Cogan told the Landmark shortly after the initial ruling was made that he had done so in part because of the unusual circumstances surrounding the two deaths. Fedorski said that a subsequent toxicology report from the Cook County Medical Examiner showed no support for the suicide determination.

After the reaction by family members, Cook County’s interim chief medical examiner, J. Scott Denton, pulled the two death certificates and ordered further review of the two cases.

“He apologized and immediately pulled the death certificates,” Fedorski said. “You’d think they’d look into it more before rendering a decision.”

The corrected death certificate for DeLise was submitted on June 1, according to Cogan’s secretary. Lee’s was expected to be submitted shortly thereafter, she said.

“I’m glad the cause of her death has been corrected,” Fedorski said. “But I don’t feel I have any more answers, and I probably won’t ever have any.”