The mother of a 22-year-old man who died earlier this year is suing Los Angeles County and a Sylmar cemetery, alleging that her son’s body was allowed to become too badly decomposed to be available for a pre-burial viewing.
Angelina Alvarez Ramirez alleges fraud, breach of contract, negligence and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Along with the county she is suing Glen Haven & Sholom Memorial Park. The Los Angeles Superior Court suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
The alleged negligent handling of Ramirez’s son’s body and its unfitness for viewing prior to her chance to see him for a last time “is a horror that no family should have to endure,” according to the suit.
A Glen Haven representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit brought Wednesday. A representative for the Coroner’s office, on behalf of the county, said the agency does not comment on ongoing litigation.
Ramirez’s son died Feb. 23 at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills and the plaintiff believes his body was transferred to the Coroner’s office. She contends the agency had a “legal duty to refrigerate and preserve” her son as soon as possible to await any autopsy as well as a transfer to a mortuary. The decedent is not named in the complaint.
The suit also states that Ramirez and Glen Haven contracted on March 12 for the mortuary to refrigerate, embalm and dress her son and place him in a casket. But Ramirez says she was later told by Glen Haven that her son’s body had decomposed and was unsuitable for viewing.
Ramirez has suffered shock, grief, nightmares, anxiety, depression and other lasting psychological trauma and she has been unable to find closure in the normal grieving process, according to the suit.
Actor Jeffrey Hunter, who had roles in “The Searchers,” “King of Kings” and the pilot episode of “Star Trek,” is among the famous names at Glen Haven.