Jacksonville Injury Lawyer Blog

Cremation negligence answers: As a funeral malpractice attorney who represents the families of loved ones who have been wrongfully cremated I am frequently asked what to do if you suspect a mistake has been made. The first thing to do is to call you local health department. If your local health department is closed you should call the police. Any documentation you are given should be copied or photographed. This would include contracts and all identification materials. Make sure to write down the names of any witnesses and any funeral home or crematory employees that you deal with. If you are asked to give back any remains do not do so until you have spoken to an experienced cremation negligence attorney.

As an attorney who handles cases involving Florida cremation mistakes I thought I would relay the following story in an effort to get the word out.

An urn containing the ashes of a decorated Korean War veteran has been stolen from a van the soldier’s family rented to attend his burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

The family of retired Army Col. Norbert Otto Schmidt went ahead with the burial Friday. Instead of the ashes being put in a grave, Schmidt gets a headstone in a part of the cemetery for former soldiers whose remains are missing.

The 83-year-old Schmidt, of Satellite Beach, Fla., died Aug. 4. His remains were stolen Thursday from a van his family rented to drive from Florida to Washington. Jewelry and electronics were also taken from the van. Let’s hope that the thief has the decency to give back the stolen urn.

Florida grave robberies continue throughout the state. Homicide detectives were dispatched recently to the house of Gary S. Thomas, 60 a former gravedigger and member of the “Satan Saints” motorcycle gang.

Pinellas County deputies spotted the skull sitting on a table when they went to Thomas’ home on an unrelated call. They notified homicide.

There was, however, no homicide.

The skull was that of one Ruth Keaton who died in 1948 of complications while having her appendix removed. She was buried in Royal Palm Cemetery in St. Petersburg.

In 1981 grave diggers were preparing a plot right next to Keaton’s. Her grave collapsed as they dug the new one. Gravedigger Bobby Anderson took the skull before they put the rest of Ruth back in the grave. He later gave it to fellow gravedigger Thomas.

“I just thought it was kind of neat,” Thomas said in an interview with The Associated Press today. “I was probably pretty nice about it. I always took care of it. I didn’t let anything happen to it. I guess I did my part and just kept her, kept her safe.”

Through St. Petersburg Times archives, vital statistics and wedding announcements from the 1940s, investigators found Mark Keaton, Ruth’s nephew who declined to press charges. If your love one has been the victim of a Florida grave robbery you may have a claim for tortious interference with a dead body. The Law Offices of Henry Gare at (904) 387-6101 has represented victims of funeral home, cemetery and cremation negligence for over 15 years.

Funeral home abuse not only takes place in Florida but also in other countries. In Canada a funeral director delivered to a grieving daughter remains other than those that were supposed to be those of her mother. Instead, the grieving daughter, Ellen Johnson, received someone else’s remains and has no idea what happened to her mother’s body after she died. The funeral director was charged with 34 counts of fraud and 2 counts of negligence with respect to the proper care of human remains and indignities to human remains. According to news sources, the funeral director’s lawyer indicated that he will plead guilty to 38 charges.
As a Florida funeral home abuse lawyer I understand that a funeral home owes its clients the highest duty of care when it comes time to prepare a deceased loved one for burial or cremation. Unfortunately, as the above story indicates, funeral home abuse includes cases involving improper cremation methods and mixing identification of cremated remains. In some cases, funeral homes have even lost the body of loved ones, and commonly misrepresent the services of the cemetery or cremation facility. We believe that funeral home exploitation is one of the most extreme and abhorrent violations of trust that exists between the family of the deceased and the funeral home staff and such abuse and exploitation affects innocent families at their worst moments. In a tightening economy, reports have indicated a rise in the following unscrupulous acts by funeral, cemetery and cremation providers: wrong bodies being cremated, bodies not being stored correctly, bodies not being correctly buried or not buried at all, improper embalming, multiple bodies placed in one coffin, body parts removed and sold and grave sites vandalized and covered with waste.
If you or a family member have been the victim of Florida cemetery negligence, Florida funeral home abuse or a Florida cremation mistake or anywhere else in the United States please contact The Law Offices of Henry E. Gare at (888)-360-4529

Burr Oak Cemetery questions hopefully will be answered by the Cemetery Oversight Task Force. The head of Illinois’ newly formed Cemetery Oversight Task Force says she hopes to have a community meeting about the alleged wrongdoing at Burr Oak Cemetery.

Patricia Brown Holmes is a former prosecutor and juvenile court judge. She’s currently a partner with Chicago law firm Schiff Hardin LLP.

Holmes said Monday she wants to hear from the community about allegations that workers at Burr Oak in south suburban Alsip dug up remains and stacked bodies to resell plots.

Holmes says her father and infant brother are buried at Burr Oak. And at least two other members of the nine-member task force have relatives buried at the cemetery.

Holmes says the task force’s mission is to find out how the situation at Burr Oak developed and how to keep it from happening again. If you or a loved one has been the victim of a mortuary mistake or a cemetery scandal be sure to contact an experienced funeral home lawyer.