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Family Sues Funeral Home Over Bad Corpse Condition
By
John Del Signore
Published Aug 4, 2009
Modified Aug 4, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Aug 4, 2009
Modified Aug 4, 2009
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The family of a man who died in his sleep was so horrified by the condition of his corpse that they're suing a Bronx funeral home. The deceased, Fernando Maldonado, had various maladies at the time of his death, so an autopsy was performed to determine the exact cause. But when the wake was held at La Paz Funeral Home on June 1st, some 75 mourners were appalled to find his bluish body in a deplorable state, with a hole behind his right ear seeping blood, stains on the pillow, and wires that appeared to be autopsy sutures holding a loose flap of skin to the back of his hairline. The wake was interrupted three times as the funeral director tried to address complaints about the body's appearance, and one of the owners of La Paz blamed the corpse's condition on the medical examiner, telling CBS2, "We did the best we could." But a lawyer for Madonado's family says that if their loved one couldn't be made presentable, they should have been given the option of a closed casket. Madonado's brother says, "Everybody was shocked. Everybody kept asking 'was he killed? Was he hit in the head?'"
Tagged
bronx
condition
corpse
funeral home
lawsuit
suing
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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