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N.S. revokes funeral director’s licence after inquiry into body mix-up

The Nova Scotia Board of Registration of Embalmers and Funeral Directors is revoking the licence of a Berwick, N.S. funeral director for professional misconduct.
The Nova Scotia Board of Registration of Embalmers and Funeral Directors is revoking the licence of a Berwick, N.S. funeral director for professional misconduct. Google Maps

Rules on the handling of corpses will be tightened in Nova Scotia following a bizarre mix-up at a funeral home that resulted in an accidental cremation.

The Nova Scotia Board of Registration of Embalmers and Funeral Directors determined Thursday that the funeral director was responsible for the snafu and revoked his licence.

The board said David Farmer didn’t check the identities of two women laid out in the same vehicle outside an Annapolis Valley crematorium.

As a result, 65-year-old Sandra Bennett was cremated, while 96-year-old Myrtle Wilson was embalmed and presented as Bennett at a family visitation on Dec. 27.

READ MORE: Woman’s body switched at funeral home, accidentally cremated

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READ MORE: Family not participating in inquiry over allegations of switched bodies at N.S. funeral home

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The confusion over the two bodies began during a stormy winter night on Dec. 20.

According to the report, two staff members from the funeral home picked up Wilson’s body from a Digby nursing home after midnight, and another team picked up Bennett’s body early the same morning from her home.

After they were taken to the firm’s Port Williams facilities, one of the vehicles was needed for another pickup, and the two bodies were placed in the same vehicle.

Bennett was placed on the left, behind the driver’s seat, while Wilson was on the right. An apprentice funeral director said there was a handwritten label for the bodies left on the stretchers.

The report states that Farmer believed that Wilson’s body was the one on the left side of the van because the normal practice was to arrange the bodies in the order they had been received, with the earliest pickups placed on the left.

READ MORE: Body mix-up at Nova Scotia funeral home ‘unacceptable,’ minister says

Farmer said in a written submission that he didn’t check the written identification, nor did he telephone the two men who transported the bodies to confirm the identities.

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He cremated Bennett’s body, while Wilson’s was laid out for embalming and placed in a casket, which was later presented to the Bennett family.

The home has been prohibited from carrying out cremations for a 30-day period beginning April 1.

“This was a tragic situation, one that no family should ever have to experience,” MacLellan said.

With files from The Canadian Press

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