Funeral home being sued after presenting family with wrong body at viewing

WATCH ABOVE: Ohio family sues funeral home after body mix-up. WCMH’s Dan Pearlman reports.

Imagine a family member unexpectedly passes away and at the viewing you’re presented with someone else’s body in the clothes of your loved one.

That’s the reality Pam Merritt claims she faced in Columbus, Ohio at the beginning of July when Smoot Funeral Services presented her family with a body that was not her sister Nivina Cargill’s. It was however, dressed in her sister’s clothes.

On top of that, The Associated Press reported, the owner and funeral director, Monique Smoot, attempted to persuade the family that the corpse was indeed their kin until she checked a name tag on the body and acknowledged the error.

“Our already distraught family went through even more emotional turmoil due to the funeral home’s mistreatment of my sister’s body,” Merritt explained to WCMH. “Smoot’s countless errors have caused our family indescribable emotional distress and suffering.”

The lawsuit does mention that Cargill’s body was found five hours later, but makeup was “applied in a sloppy and haphazard manner.”

Cargill died June 21 of cardiac arrest at the age of 52. The family is seeking more than $25,000 (USD) in both compensatory and punitive charges.

— With files from The Associated Press