The death of a loved one is often a stressful time with emotions running high. It can be an incredibly painful life experience and while the majority of funeral homes open today operate responsibly with an emphasis on care, funeral home negligence is still present in the industry. Funeral home negligence can play out in a number of ways, including improper body transport or storage. When funeral home negligence occurs, mourners are left angry and frustrated at trying to process a level of trauma they never expected from a business that had been given the responsibility of showing the deceased the utmost dignity.
Funeral negligence attorneys are prepared to help you file a claim, should you believe a funeral home neglected or abused its duties.
Improper Body Transport And Storage
As we mentioned, emotions are often raw after the death of a loved one, and choosing a funeral home to handle the necessary task of preparing the deceased often isn’t easy. Unfortunately, some funeral homes may cut corners or simply perform sloppy work. Too often this happens in regards to the transportation and storage of the body.
This improper transport and storage could be anything from dropping the body on the floor to transporting multiple bodies in one casket, mixing up bodies, or even cases of mutilation of the body. These circumstances may be unsettling to think about, but they are realities in the industry that countless families have had to endure.
Embalming And Cremation Errors
Incorrect embalming and storage of the body is another common cause in funeral home negligence cases. Whether it’s forgetfulness or purposeful ignoring of the correct procedures, the results can be severe. Embalming mistakes or incorrect storage can cause bodies to decay or become disfigured, in some cases denying the family from having an open-casket funeral.
Cremation may seem like it would be error-proof, but unfortunately, that’s not the case and botched cremations do happen. In some cases, families have been given the wrong remains or learned that the ashes of their family member were accidentally mixed with those of someone else. There have also been occasions where the ashes of the deceased were misplaced or lost.
In every circumstance, the family is left upset and let down by the failure of the funeral home, and they may be entitled to seek punitive damages for the negligence or abuse.
Assessing The Case And Potential Damages
Funeral homes have a responsibility to follow certain procedures and when those procedures are forgotten or ignored, a family should seek legal counsel. The circumstances of funeral home negligence can vary from one case to the next but liability against the funeral home must be proven as well as incurred damages.
Funeral home negligence is unacceptable and only compounds the loss and death of a loved one. If you believe a funeral home acted negligently in the handling of someone who was close to you, the attorneys at Malley Law Firm are ready to help.
