mortuary

13 Stories

Family Sues Morgue, Alleging Workers Dropped Dad's Body

They claim Juan Mejia's head was dented and bruised as a result

(Newser) - Lawsuits involving morgues are bound to be grim, and the one filed by a Texas family is no exception. The relatives of Juan Mejia are suing a Houston morgue for negligence, alleging its employees dropped Mejia's body as they were removing it on a metal stretcher from his daughter'...

Interest 'Flourishing' in This Rather Grim Career

Amid an industry worker shortage, mortuary science programs are seeing big enrollment jump

(Newser) - Mortuary schools are still doing the hard sell on their websites to get potential funeral home workers to enroll. Turns out, though, that may not be necessary at the moment. Although there's a worker shortage in the industry, interest in funeral services is "flourishing," reports CNN Business...

Dead Bodies Are Piling Up
Dead Bodies Are Piling Up

Dead Bodies Are Piling Up

Mortuaries are overcrowded as cities struggle to meet with demand

(Newser) - There are the new dead. And then there are the bodies waiting in overcrowded mortuaries to be buried as cities struggle to meet demand and families wrestle with rules on social distancing that make the usual funeral rituals impossible, the AP reports. Med Alliance Group, a medical distributor in Illinois,...

They Were on Lockdown for an Hour. Outside, 5 Were Shot

It happened at a California mortuary

(Newser) - A California mortuary became an unexpected terror zone Thursday night when gunfire broke out, injuring five people. Police say they found three injured people when they responded to 911 calls about a shooting at the Chapel of the Chimes in Hayward, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Police say they found...

Pentagon Memo Alleges Body of John Glenn Was Mistreated

Dover Air Force Base branch chief allegedly offered peeks of body

(Newser) - Between John Glenn's Dec. 8 death and his April 6 burial at Arlington National Cemetery, his body was housed at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to "ensure an increased level of privacy and security for a renowned public servant," says a Pentagon rep. That's not...

After a Night in Morgue Refrigerator, They Find a Pulse

An inquiry is underway in South Africa

(Newser) - It's the kind of story you'd hope would have a miraculously happy ending, but it wasn't to be in South Africa. Last Monday evening, 28-year-old Msizi Mkhize was struck by a car in Durban and pronounced dead at the scene, reports the Times of London. He was...

Family Sues Mortuary After Body Left in Garage 2 Years

Remains of 3 others were also found

(Newser) - After 50-year-old Brigitte Godfrey died of an asthma attack in March of 2013, her family contacted Living Waters Funeral Home near Chicago to cremate the body, reports Courthouse News Service . That never happened: Two years later, Godfrey's corpse was found with three other bodies and a bag of organs...

'Dead' Man Rescued When Family Sees Body Bag Move

The Brazilian man has terminal cancer

(Newser) - A 54-year-old Brazilian man may be suffering from terminal cancer, but the docs got it wrong when they told his family he'd died of respiratory failure and multiple organ failure Saturday night. Two hours later, when family members went to the morgue to dress Valdelucio de Oliveira Goncalves' body,...

Evicted Funeral Home Leaves Bodies Behind

Cops find several decaying corpses in Texas building

(Newser) - Police who found at least seven corpses in a building in Fort Worth, Texas, yesterday quickly determined there was no serial killer at work—but there were funeral directors who had apparently moved out with work unfinished. Police say the building's owner evicted the Johnson Family Mortuary two weeks...

Whistleblower: We Asked to Bury 9/11 Remains at Sea

Former Dover Air Force Base mortuary director speaks out

(Newser) - The 9/11 remains that ended up in a landfill could have been buried at sea instead: That's the plan some officials at the Dover Air Force Base mortuary pushed for, but their superiors in the military rejected it. "We fought the fight, but I had zero clout back...

Remains of 9/11 Victims Dumped in Landfill

Dover Air Force Base under fire for treatment of cremated remains

(Newser) - Small, incinerated portions of the remains of 9/11 victims ended up in a landfill, the Pentagon has acknowledged for the first time. The remains of victims of the attacks in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon, too small to identify, were brought to the Dover Air Force Base mortuary, where they...

Babies Found Along Chinese River; Hospital Staff Arrested

Mortuary workers were supposed to dispose of bodies

(Newser) - The bodies of 21 babies, some with hospital identification tags around their tiny ankles, washed ashore on a river in eastern China and two mortuary workers were detained for allegedly dumping them. News footage shows the babies—at least one of whom was stuffed in a yellow plastic bag marked...

Jackson's Body Released to Family

(Newser) - Michael Jackson’s body has been released to his family, Reuters reports. The family is said to be meeting at Jackson’s parents’ home to discuss funeral arrangements, but no plans have been released to the public. The body was taken to a mortuary from the morgue after an autopsy...

13 Stories