A New York man has filed a lawsuit against a Bronx hospital for allegedly throwing his ear in the rubbish after it was ripped off by his son's bull terrier.

Eduardo Garcia claims that ambulance staff discarded a large chunk of his ear in May 2008 after arriving at Montefiore Medical Center.

His lawyer said: "They deprived him of an opportunity to have treatment. Now he's got a deformity."

The hospital has claimed that the ear was not reattached as there was a "potential risk of contamination or infection".