BELLINGHAM, Wash. — A Bellingham funeral services business was the subject of news reports yesterday, June 6th, after the Washington State Department of Licensing (DOL) Funeral and Cemetery Board received information about unrefrigerated human remains being stored on their property.
According to initial information from the DOL, they were investigating the claim and noted that the remains were being kept on behalf of the Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s office while construction in their facility has been underway.
The board only has jurisdiction over funeral homes, so they are only investigating the funeral home at this point according to DOL Spokesperson Christine Anthony.
In speaking with the funeral home owner, we learned that the agreement with Whatcom County ME was to allow a portable cooling unit (3 person capacity) in the garage at [on the funeral home property] and 5 refrigeration spaces in the refrigeration unit at [1 of their cemeteries]. The funeral homes that complained indicated they saw 6 or 7 decedents in the garage who were not in refrigeration. We are investigating the claim that unrefrigerated human remains were stored at [the garage] on behalf of the Medical Examiner’s office. Our investigation began on May 17 after the second complaint was made.
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Click for more information– Washington State Department of Licensing Spokesperson Christine Anthony (June 7, 2024)
The business owner provided Whatcom News with the following statement on June 7th in response to the news reports.
Reports about the mishandling of decedents under the care of the Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office are grossly incomplete and unfairly tarnish the reputation of our funeral home. When Whatcom County was in a difficult situation seeking a temporary Medical Examiner’s Office facility last year, we provided the county use of our preparation room for autopsies, plus office space and a space to place a storage cooler for decedents. We were acting as a landlord and couldn’t move decedents without a request from the Medical Examiner’s Office, which has a legal responsibility for the decedents.
We offered to transport their decedents to our refrigerated space at [the cemetery] only upon the request of the Medical Examiner’s Office and when we had staff available or were already heading there. We didn’t receive a request on Friday, May 10.
On May 10, we told the Medical Examiner’s Office that it needed to make arrangements for decedents under its care. They told us that funeral homes were coming to pick up the decedents later that day. When we returned to work Monday, May 13, we discovered that no one had picked up the decedents. It was the sole responsibility of the Medical Examiner’s Office to make arrangements for the proper handling of those decedents. It’s understandable why families are distraught over this situation and we are heartbroken over this mismanagement and negligence by the Medical Examiner’s Office.
A request for information from the Whatcom County Medical Examiner’s Office was not immediately answered.
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