A funeral home allegedly shipped a grandmother’s body to the wrong country by mistake – and her family found out through TikTok.
When Carmen Maldonado died aged 96 on May 18, her family retained Rivera Funeral Home to send her remains to Ecuador.
After some time passed, Maldonado’s children were told by relatives that they saw a video on TikTok indicating that her body wound up in a different Latin American country, and was rotting.
The level of decomposition reached the point that skin was ‘falling off’, alleges a lawsuit filed in the New York State Supreme Court on Wednesday.
It turned out Maldonado’s casket was shipped to Guatemala, which is about 1,400 miles away from the requested destination, according to court documents obtained by the PIX11 News.
Only after the family confronted the funeral home did they admit the mistake, states the suit.
‘It is unconscionable how such egregious actions can take place. No amount of money is enough to hold the Rivera Funeral Home & RG Ortiz accountable for their mistake,’ stated the family’s lawyer, Phil Rizzuto, according to news outlet.
‘They did not even notify the family of what happened. I cannot begin to imagine what the family was feeling when they saw this on TikTok.’
The suit states that ‘Carmen Maldonado was not properly prepared for transport and was carelessly sent to the wrong country while in the care and custody of the defendant, RG ORTIZ FUNERAL HOME, INC.’
Maldonado’s body was in Guatemala for 16 days, her family claim.
Her youngest son, Manuel Minchala, accused the funeral home operator of being ‘all about money’.
‘Not even an animal can make a mistake like this,’ he said, according to the New York Post.
His sibling said the TikTok video was ‘significantly traumatic to the entire family’.
A woman who said she was the manager of RG Ortiz Funeral Home told PIX 11 News that RG Ortiz operates two funeral homes that are related, and declined to comment on the litigation.
The family seeks unspecified damages.
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