COLUMBUS, Ohio—An Ohio coroner has fired an employee blamed for an error that led to the body of a 1-year-old boy being cremated against his family’s wishes.
Franklin County Coroner Jan Gorniak fired seven-year employee Angela Summerfield on Wednesday, saying she did not follow proper procedure and released the wrong body to a funeral home.
The coroner says Summerfield’s error led to last week’s release of the body of 1-year-old Jaylen Talley, instead of the body of a 22-day-old infant whose family wanted cremation.
Summerfield says she checked identification tags before releasing the body to a funeral home driver. She says she plans a wrongful termination lawsuit.
Gorniak now requires employees to take photographs to identify bodies before release. She plans to install security cameras to monitor employees.
Be the first to comment