The parents of a dead 26-year-old man whose body was accidentally cremated by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office in 2016 are suing the county and the agency.
“I’m sorry, the cremation was in error, your son was cremated,” a coroner’s official told the parents, according to the lawsuit.
Jorge Alberto Hernandez and Mirna Amaya, the father and mother of the late Jorge Geovanny Hernandez, filed the lawsuit Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court. The suit alleges negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The parents seek unspecified damages.
Hernandez died of a drug overdose Oct. 7 after being taken to Glendale Adventist Medical Center. His body was picked up by the coroner’s office to determine a cause and he was cremated Oct. 17.
According to the lawsuit, Hernandez’s family planned to cremate his body, but wanted to stage a final viewing beforehand and allow for photos to be taken of him “resting peacefully in his coffin.”
On Oct. 18, a coroner’s representative called Amaya and said, “I’m sorry, the cremation was in error, your son was cremated,” the suit states.
Coroner’s officials previously said the mistake occurred because a technician failed to check the case number on the man’s body and that the office issued an apology to the decedent’s family. The officials said there were two men named Jorge Hernandez at the morgue and that the other man, who was indigent, was scheduled to be cremated.
—City News Service