FUNERAL BODY BLUNDER SHOCK
Agony as dad’s body almost cremated by wrong family
AFATHER was almost cremated by the wrong family after a “distressing” funeral home blunder.
A GLASGOW family was left distraught after their dad’s body was taken by the wrong funeral directors – and nearly cremated by another family.
An investigation is underway and both Glasgow’s health board and Co-Op Funeralcare have apologised for the blunder.
William Paterson, 56, was taken and his body sealed and ready for cremation before the family’s own undertaker intervened.
Mr Paterson, who died on November 20, was due to be picked up from the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital for burial by David Robb Funeral Directors.
However, when Mr Robb arrived he found that Mr Paterson’s body had already been taken away by Co-op Funeralcare.
Mr Robb said: “When I arrived and gave his address as Govan Road the date of death didn’t match anyone, but there was another William Paterson there.
“The worker then checked their system and found that the William Paterson that I was looking for had already been uplifted by Glasgow Co-op.”
For Mr Robb, it was then a race against time to try to find the correct body and return him to the family for the funeral.
He added: “When I arrived at the Co-op I saw that there was a William Paterson in a coffin, sealed and ready to go for cremation.
“At this point he would have had to be checked by at least two staff.
“As soon as I opened the casket I knew it was him, he is the double of his son.
“If I had decided to take that weekend off there is an extremely high chance that it would have been too late.”
The funeral director chose not to inform the family while he tried to resolve the situation.
Mr Paterson’s daughter Claire was later called in to Mr Robb’s office.
She said: “When David first told us my heart was in my mouth.
“I just broke down and I feared it was too late.
“We just kept asking, ‘How could anyone have let this happen?’”
Internal investigations have since taken place within the hospital and Co-op Funeralcare, the latter of whom is being probed by the National Association of Funeral Directors.
A spokeswoman for NHSGGC said: “It was a genuine error and we would like to apologise for any distress caused.
“Our normal robust process for transferring deceased patients to an undertaker failed on this occasion.”
A spokesperson for Co-op said: “On collection of Mr Paterson we unfortunately were not made aware that there were two individuals at the hospital with the same name, however, after a full investigation we accept that an error was made on our behalf and we can only apologise to the Paterson family for this.”