A lawsuit filed by the estate of a deceased man alleges that a Kentucky coroner’s negligence resulted in a distressing incident at a funeral service, Insider reports.
According to the lawsuit, the coroner, Raymond Vancleave, left the man’s body in a hot car, causing a strong and unpleasant odor to fill the air. Funeral guests, staff members, and pallbearers reportedly became sick and vomited as a result.
The deceased, Nathan Dean Peyton, passed away on December 30, 2022, and Vancleave collected his body that same morning, the lawsuit stated. According to the claim, December 30 was
“an unseasonably warm day”
and Vancleave left Peyton’s body inside the SUV throughout the afternoon and evening of December 30, where it
“rapidly decomposed while sealed within the body bag that was left inside of Raymond Vancleave’s hot motor vehicle.”
Vancleave transported Peyton’s body to the state medical examiner’s office in Frankfort, Kentucky on December 31
“for an autopsy that was not requested by the family,”
the lawsuit said. When the funeral home owner retrieved the body on January 1, 2023, Peyton’s body had decomposed to such an extent that
“the smell emanating from the body bag was pungent and putrid,”
the lawsuit said.
According to the lawsuit, Peyton’s body was in a state of complete decomposition, making it impossible for the funeral home to embalm it. As a result, the body had to remain sealed inside a body bag and placed in a coffin.
The closed-casket funeral service took place on January 6th and the
“unbearable smell”
caused several pallbearers, guests, and staff members at the funeral home to throw up, the lawsuit stated.
“The family and loved ones of Nathan Dean Peyton were not able to properly say goodbye to him at a normal funeral due to the reckless and negligent treatment of his corpse,”
the lawsuit said.
Following the report by local CBS affiliate WKYT, it was stated that Vancleave has stepped down from his position as Morgan County Coroner.
#Clique, what are your thoughts?
