City officials in the town of Amherst, Ohio broke state law by allowing the cremated remains of a mother to be removed from a city cemetery and moved in 2002. The city is now being sued by the mother’s family for interfering with their mother’s dead body. Roberta Yates, the mother, was moved from Ohio to the Western Reserve National Cemetery without her family’s approval. By not getting a court order to move the remains the city violated Ohio law.
What struck me about this story was the fact that the person who paid the $70 to move the cremated remains was a complete stranger to the family. In Jacksonville only the next of kin are allowed to decide what can be done with a loved one’s dead body. Many states including Florida have laws that allow family members to sue for emotional damages when a family members dead body is abused.
Posted on: Wednesday, June 11th, 2008