Cremation Lawsuits: Why Do They Keep Happening?

I have to admit that every time my secretary tells me there is a reporter on the line, I cringe. I wonder what has happened now, and who has done what wrong. Given all the crematory operator training programs available today, it’s hard for me to understand why I still receive phone calls almost monthly about another situation that has gone wrong with a funeral home or crematory.

One would think after the Tri-State and Bayview debacles, most operations would have cleaned up their act, but such is not the case. In May of 2008, I was asked to assist the State Board of Funeral Directors in Mississippi in a case against a funeral director/crematory operator who was accused of running a shoddy operation. Believe me, this was the worst operation I have seen in many, many years. Fortunately for the good people of Mississippi, he is now out of business and has just been sentenced to 10 years in jail. 

In April, a reporter called to ask for my thoughts on a Texas funeral home and crematory’s mistake: they are accused of cremating an African-American man instead of a Caucasian woman. Now the funeral home and crematory is facing a $2.7 million lawsuit from the man’s family. I could name countless lawsuits being filed for negligence on the part of either the funeral home or crematory, and I just don’t get it.

I can only assume those companies being sued have not practiced due diligence when either using a third party crematory, or providing cremations “in house.” What are their checks and balances for identification? Have they established their chain of custody when making the removal of the decedent?  Do they require identification of the decedent prior to the cremation? The list could go on and on with ways they could have avoided ending up in a lawsuit.

In my company, we have a Chain of Custody of Cremation Commandments where we have from the first call, a person at the place of death sign a Witness of Transfer form prior to making the removal. This establishes that someone at the place of death has identified the decedent and signs off that they have done so. We then have four other identification procedures after the decedent has been placed in our custody prior to the cremation process. I can assure you Hollomon-Brown Funeral Homes do not take for granted the cremation process that we have been assigned to carry out with the trust our families place in us.

Will these lawsuits continue? You betcha. What can you do to make sure you don’t end up in your local headlines? One word: TRAINING. Completing a certification program is a must for anyone – and I mean anyone, not just the operator – who serves cremation families. With cremation numbers increasing by the month, you owe it to yourself and the families you serve to uphold the custody, care and dignity of their loved one of which they have entrusted to you.  FBA

Mike Nicodemus is cremation operations manager for Hollomon-Brown Funeral Homes, a 10-chapel establishment in the Tidewater, Va. area with a 50 percent cremation rate. Nicodemus is the first vice president of the Cremation Association of North America (CANA) and chairman of the CANA Crematory Operator Certification Program. Nicodemus has also served as an expert witness in various cremation lawsuits. He can be reached at 757.463.0150 or mikenicodemus@cox.net. This article has previously been printed in CANA literature.