There are few experiences more difficult than losing a person that’s close to you. Not only do you have to deal with the pain of their permanent absence, but you also have a long list of tasks to complete in the wake of their death. Nothing is easy when it comes to funerals.
Arranging burial or cremation and setting up services for honoring their life can be made easier when you find a quality funeral service provider. These licensed professionals can oversee the handling of your loved one’s body after death. It goes a long way to making the grieving process more bearable.
But not all funeral homes live up to their obligations. Negligence and malpractice on their part can amplify the pain and suffering you are already shouldering. There is no excuse for negligence in these cases. The law in Texas is clear on this.
If you feel that you or your loved one has been done wrong by a funeral home provider, it’s important to get in touch with a Texas funeral home negligence lawyer who can do something about it. You don’t have to suffer funeral service providers’ mistakes or greedy underhanded practices. You can sue and win damages under a wide range of circumstances.
With that said, let’s go over some common signs of funeral home malpractice and negligence.
Funeral Home Malpractice and Negligence: Common Cases To Look Out For
If anything on the list below feels familiar, be sure to reach out for a risk-free case evaluation to get started with bringing legal action to bad actors.
You and your loved one deserve diligent care and honesty from funeral service providers. If they can’t provide that, you at least deserve compensation.
Beware of:
- Failure to store the body properly
- Failure to properly embalm the body
- Losing cremated remains
- Cremating the wrong body
- Carelessness when transporting the body
- Theft of personal property before your loved one is buried (Clothing, jewelry, etc.)
- Allowing an unlicensed practitioner to handle the embalming of your loved one
- Allowing your loved one’s remains to excessively decompose due to improper embalming or storage
- Stealing your loved one’s organs
- Selling you a higher quality casket and then substituting it with a lesser quality one
- Placing another body in your loved one’s cemetery plot
- Burying the body of your loved one in the wrong cemetery plot
- Putting your loved one with one or more other bodies into a single coffin or performing the same action of overcrowding at a mausoleum
This list doesn’t cover everything. It’s meant to give you an idea of all of the things that might go wrong when a less-than-honest funeral provider falls short of their legal obligation to provide quality service for you and your deceased loved one.
Only a lawyer with experience in handling funeral home malpractice and negligence cases will be able to determine the next best steps for your particular case.
What Happens When My Lawyer Proves Funeral Home Negligence?
In negligence cases, you often can recover for past expenses and reasonably foreseeable future costs connected with the losses and harm you have suffered. On top of that, negligence can serve as the basis for a claim of emotional distress.
But, the facts of your case will be unique, and proving emotional distress will require the assistance and counsel of an experienced funeral home malpractice attorney. Because of their specialized experience, they can better understand the nature of the harm put upon you and how to best prove it in court.
There is no reason you should have to suffer more than you already have to after your loved one’s passing. Make sure to hold funeral homes accountable for their mistakes, intentional or not.
Being awarded damages won’t bring your loved one back, but it can help to alleviate the financial burden and compensate for the feeling of being fleeced by negligent funeral service providers. Reach out ASAP if you would like to take action.
