Rats desecrated bodies at Tennessee funeral home, officials say. It was fined $14,000
A funeral home in Tennessee is accused of ignoring multiple reports from a former employee about a monthslong rat infestation that resulted in damages to at least two bodies.
On Friday, the company agreed to pay a $14,000 fine and refund funeral expenses for the families.
Forest Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Park in Memphis, which is operated by StoneMor Partners L.P., violated state code when it ignored warnings of a rat infestation in an embalming room even after two bodies were damaged by the rodents, the Tennessee State Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers said in a consent order.
The order was signed by the division president at Forest Hill, the executive director of the state board and general counsel for the Tennessee Department of Commerce &Insurance Regulatory Boards Division. The division of Regulatory Boards handles complaints and disciplinary actions against licensed businesses in the state.
In a statement to McClatchy News, the assistant commissioner of regulatory boards and the Department of Commerce & Insurance said they “express their sincerest condolences to the families of those affected by this unfortunate situation.”
“We are grateful that this matter has been resolved,” they said. “We urge all Tennessee consumers who may feel that they have been treated unfairly by a licensee or if they know of unlicensed or illegal activity to immediately file a complaint with our team.”
Lindsay Granson, senior vice president of sales and marketing at StoneMor, told McClatchy News in a statement Thursday the consent order “contains all the details that we are willing to disclose.”
“This is a matter that we are working with the appropriate parties to remediate,” she said.
In a previous statement to WREG, Granson said the infestation was an “isolated situation” that was “handled immediately and there has been no other issue.”
StoneMor is one of the largest cemetery and funeral home operators on the East Coast and in the Midwest, according to its website. It operates at least 15 facilities in Tennessee, including three Forest Hill locations in Memphis.
The rat infestation plagued its Forest Hill East location on Whitten Road, according to documents filed with the state board.
A former manager filed a complaint in March, saying rats had infested the “prep room” as early as June 2020.
“I have reported this multiple times to my superiors and as of this date, no significant improvements have been made to secure the building,” he said in the complaint.
The manager also said rodents had “entered and damaged bodies in the care of Forest Hill.”
“The need for extensive repair to the building used to shelter remains has been repeatedly reported by me to senior management,” he said. “I have ultimately resigned due to these issues being neglected and the damage it has done to the decedents in Forest Hill care.”
His complaint was brought up at state board meeting in May, in which board members learned a field investigator had looked into the allegations. An investigator determined the funeral home owner was told about the rat infestation and hired an exterminator but it wasn’t “addressed in a timely manner,” according to the board’s meeting minutes.
The investigator also found that at least two bodies “suffered physical harm and damage due to the rodent infestation,” and that the funeral home continued to use the preparation room even after the infestation was reported.
Under the terms of Friday’s consent order, Forest Hill agreed to pay the civil fine and inform families whose loved ones were affected by the infestation.
The funeral home will also have to provide a full refund to those families within 30 days of signing the order and stop using the preparation room for embalming bodies until it is sufficiently repaired to keep out the rats. Once those repairs have been made, the funeral home operator is required to submit an affidavit summarizing what repairs were done.
It will not be allowed to use the preparation room again until the state board signs off on those repairs.
In addition, Forest Hill will have to provide a monthly report from a licensed exterminator regarding any potential rat sighting for a year after the order is signed.
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