Funeral home gives family their loved one’s brain in a box ‘by mistake,’ suit says
After a man’s military funeral service in Missouri, a funeral home gave his family an urn with what they thought was the entirety of his cremated remains inside, along with a plastic sack containing his clothes — and a cardboard box.
The family would later learn the brain of their loved one, Fred Love Jr., was inside the box and given to them “by mistake,” according to their lawsuit.
“Over a year after the events, we are still wondering how something so shocking could happen,” the family told McClatchy News in a statement on Dec. 15.
They’re suing those they feel are responsible. A jury trial is scheduled for April 1, St. Louis court records show.
What happened?
Love, a U.S. Army veteran, husband, father and grandfather, died suddenly in his O’Fallon home after he collapsed on Sept. 25, 2022, the lawsuit filed in late October says. O’Fallon is about 30 miles northwest of St. Louis.
Since he was an organ donor, his body was taken for tissue harvesting to Mid-America Transplant Services before being taken to the St. Charles County Medical Examiner.
Mid-America Transplant had a contract with Baue Funeral Home, which then provided embalming and transportation services for Love’s body before his funeral was hosted at a different venue, according to a petition filed in the case.
After Glenda Love, Fred Love’s wife of 33 years, signed a release form, Baue Funeral Home in St. Charles received the man’s body and a red specimen bag with his brain, the petition says.
There, the brain was put inside a “cardboard box that would have been lying around the mortuary” and stamped with biohazard stickers, according to the complaint.
Love’s body and the box were taken to Simpson Funeral Home in Webb City, where a funeral military service was held for him on Oct. 3, 2022, the petition says.
On Oct. 6, 2022 — after the service and the subsequent cremation of Love’s body — a Simpson Funeral Home employee told the family “all of Fred’s remains were contained in the urn” when he gave it to them alongside the plastic bag containing the box, according to the complaint.
However, that wasn’t the case, according to the family.
The family is suing Baue Funeral Home, Simpson Funeral Home, Mid-America Transplant and other defendants, accusing them of negligence.
David Bub, counsel for Baue Funeral Home, said his client is aware of the lawsuit but denies accusations of wrongdoing in a statement to McClatchy News on Dec. 15. Mid-America Transplant also denied any liability regarding what happened to Love’s brain in a statement to McClatchy News on Dec. 15
McClatchy News contacted the Simpson Funeral Home and an attorney representing its employee named in the suit for comment on Dec. 15 and didn’t receive an immediate response.
‘Strange odor’ comes from the box
When the family set off on a nearly six-hour drive from Webb City to Glenda Love’s home in O’Fallon, the Loves’ daughter “smelled an extremely pungent chemical smell” and got a “severe headache,” a petition says.
At Glenda Love’s home, her son put the box into the garage unopened, according to the court documents , which say he saw it had a biohazard label.
The next day, a “strange odor” came from the box and the family feared opening it, the petition says.
The family contacted Mid-America Transplant about the box, but the company said they were unaware of it or what could be inside, according to the complaint.
The Simpson Funeral Home employee also didn’t know what was inside the box when contacted, but the worker assumed it was Love’s belongings, the petition says.
The box is opened
The family ultimately drove to Baue Funeral Home for answers and met with a care center manager, who told them “essentially you guys were given a box that contains Fred’s brain by mistake by the funeral home,” according to the petition.
This was in reference to Simpson Funeral Home and its “mistake,” Steven F. Coronado, the family’s attorney, confirmed.
When the manager opened the box in front of the family, it revealed Love’s entire brain, the court records say.
“Fred’s passing was devastating for the whole family…The acts giving rise to this lawsuit made the experience of his passing all the more difficult,” the family said in their statement to McClatchy News.
Bub said his client, Baue Funeral Home, “was honored to serve the Love family during their time of need and is aware of the allegations in their lawsuit,” and that the funeral home “vehemently denies any allegation of wrongdoing.”
Meanwhile, Mid-America Transplant said “the unfortunate events in this case happened after the individual left Mid-America Transplant’s care.”
“We have standard protocols that we consistently follow through the donation process to ensure we honor the integrity and dignity of the heroic individuals who say yes to organ and tissue donation,” the statement added.
‘Alone in seeking answers’
The family’s lawsuit accuses all defendants of blaming each other for what happened.
“No one accepted responsibility for the brain being given to the Family and not cremated with Fred,” the petition says.
At the time it was filed, the family believed Baue Funeral Home still had Love’s brain.
Before the box was opened, the Baue care manager told the family his “brain was removed and embalmed separately from (his) body because (he) underwent a partial autopsy,” the petition says.
She offered to have the brain cremated, but said she couldn’t guarantee it “would not be completely incinerated,” according to the petition.
With their lawsuit, the family seeks damages in excess of $25,000, in addition to accountability and preventing another family from having a similar experience.
“Collectively, we have never heard of this occurring to another family, and thus we are uniquely alone in seeking answers,” the family said.
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