Losing a loved one is hard enough. But when the funeral home you trusted with your loved one’s body abuses this trust, it adds insult to injury.
If a funeral home neglected or abused your loved one, you might be entitled to financial compensation.
At the personal injury law firm of Armstrong Lee & Baker LLP, we represent families in funeral home negligence cases.
Our compassionate team of attorneys can help you identify all possible claims and effectively pursue them so that your family can obtain justice on your loved one’s behalf.
What Is Funeral Home Negligence?
After a loved one dies, family members often cope with their grief by celebrating their loved one’s life at a funeral.
However, funerals take time to arrange, and during that time, the funeral home is responsible for caring for your loved one’s body. Families place a tremendous amount of trust in funeral homes.
In most situations, funeral homes live up to expectations. In fact, you may wonder if funeral home negligence even happens.
Unfortunately, it does. The National Funeral Directors Association was created for a number of reasons, one of which is to help ensure that funeral directors uphold the highest ethical standards.
However, the association cannot monitor every funeral home in detail, and some funeral homes violate the duty owed to bereaved families.
Below are some of the most common types of funeral home negligence cases.
Theft
Funeral home employees have ample opportunity to steal the personal belongings of those in their care.
Jewelry is the most commonly stolen item, and some people decide not to bury their loved ones with jewelry for this exact reason.
But there have also been cases where funeral home employees remove gold teeth, prosthetic limbs, trinkets, and other items of sentimental value.
Embalming Errors
Embalming is the process of preserving the body, usually for a funeral. While embalming is not especially technical, it does require a certain level of knowledge and skill.
Negligent funeral home workers may make mistakes during the embalming process, which can interfere with a family’s funeral plans.
Abuse
Although it’s difficult to comprehend, funeral home workers have been known to abuse bodies in their possession.
This may include mutilation, storing multiple bodies in a single casket, dropping bodies during transport, or even sexual abuse of a corpse.
Fraud
While most funeral homes are honest businesses, some exist with the added goal of taking advantage of family members preoccupied with their loss and grief.
These funeral homes know that family members may not be paying attention to the financial aspect of the funeral.
For example, charging families for services not provided or selling one type of casket only to replace it with a less-expensive version are two forms of funeral home fraud.
Concerned About How a Funeral Home Treated Your Loved One?
If you recently buried a loved one and have reason to believe that the funeral home failed to live up to its duties, reach out to Armstrong Lee & Baker LLP.
Our funeral home negligence lawyers have extensive experience holding negligent funeral homes liable for misconduct.
We are problem solvers who believe that there is a sacred trust between the attorney and the client: and we take that trust very seriously.
We are committed to your best interests, and we work tirelessly to get you the results you need and deserve.
To learn more, you can reach Armstrong Lee & Baker LLP through our online contact form to schedule a free consultation.
Scott Armstrong obtains remarkable results for his clients. He has successfully tried numerous cases to favorable verdicts and reached significant settlements on his clients’ behalf. In the process, he has recovered millions for his clients.