The family of a child who was wrongly cremated, after a tragic mix-up at a funeral home, is to receive $50,000.
The body of 14-month-old Jaylen Talley was mistakenly released to the Marlan J. Gary funeral home in Ohio last year.
The funeral home had been asked to handle the body of another boy, a 22-day-old baby whose family wanted a cremation.
Cremation is against the religious beliefs of Jaylen’s parents, who had planned to bury the toddler in a tiny white tuxedo, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
The infant had suffered from breathing problems during his brief life and is believed to have died of a chronic illness.
Jaylen is survived by his father, Marico Talley, his mother, Jamere Sydnor, two sisters and a brother.
A settlement of $50,000 for the family was approved on Tuesday, 10TV News reported. Commissioners also approved $18,500 for the family of 22-day-old Chase Fine, whose family wanted his remains cremated.
Parents devastated after morgue mix up leads to the cremation of their baby boy… when their religion is against it
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The family of a child who was wrongly cremated, after a tragic mix-up at a funeral home, is to receive $50,000.
The body of 14-month-old Jaylen Talley was mistakenly released to the Marlan J. Gary funeral home in Ohio last year.
The funeral home had been asked to handle the body of another boy, a 22-day-old baby whose family wanted a cremation.
Devastating error: 14-month-old Jaylen Talley was mistakenly cremated when the coroner office released the wrong baby to a funeral home
Cremation is against the religious beliefs of Jaylen’s parents, who had planned to bury the toddler in a tiny white tuxedo, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
The infant had suffered from breathing problems during his brief life and is believed to have died of a chronic illness.
Jaylen is survived by his father, Marico Talley, his mother, Jamere Sydnor, two sisters and a brother.
A settlement of $50,000 for the family was approved on Tuesday, 10TV News reported. Commissioners also approved $18,500 for the family of 22-day-old Chase Fine, whose family wanted his remains cremated.
Jaylen’s grandmother has spoken of the family’s heartache following the appalling error.
Discovering the mistake, Paula Hall, the toddler’s maternal grandmother said shortly after his death, had been like ‘losing him all over again.’
She said: ‘His parents wanted to see him one more time.’
Jaylen was a happy baby, his grandmother said: ‘He was a little man. He was always smiling.’
The coroner and funeral director had visited the family immediately after the death and relayed a ‘horror story’ she said.
‘He comes in and starts telling us the horror story,’
‘He said he had a funeral service for a child the night before and that child was cremated. And that child was Jaylen.’
The Ohio Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors have suspended the funeral home’s licence and the licence of owner and funeral director Marlan J. Gary for six months.
Multiple checks that could have correctly identified the child were not carried out.
Both bodies had been identified correctly, but a coroner’s office employee mistakenly released baby Jaylen’s body to a driver employed by the funeral home.
Neither the driver nor the business hired by Mr Gary for the cremation checked to make sure they had the right boy.
The coroner’s employee was fired as a result of the appalling mistake.
Franklin County coroner Jan Gorniak apologised to both families. He also demanded changes in procedure and called for new technology to prevent a similar mistake happening again in the future.
A panel of seven members of the Ohio Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors voted unanimously for the funeral home’s suspension.
Funeral directors must take precautions to ‘get it right,’ the panel heard.
Hearing officer Marc Myers said in a report to the board: ‘Cremation is irreversible, so it is vitally important that every precaution and safeguard be taken to ensure accuracy.
‘The funeral director cannot simply rely on another, be it a driver or the coroner’s office, to get it right.’
Mr Gary’s lawyer claimed that his punishment was too harsh. He said that his client hasn’t yet decided whether to appeal.
The funeral home owner had contested the charge that he was responsible for identifying a body released to his business.
His attorney, T. Scott Gilligan said :’Funeral directors have to be able to depend on identification made by the coroner.’
Ohio law requires funeral directors to certify the identity of any body released to them.
