View source for Funeral Home Sued After Sending Grandmother's Body To Wrong Country

<br> Here is more info regarding [https://jetblacktransportation.com/blog/long-distance-limo-hire/ long distance limo hire] review our site. Nine grieving children discovered that a New York funeral home had sent their mother's body to a family in Guatemala after chancing upon a TikTok of the horrified recipients.<br><br>Carmen Maldonado died two days after her 96th birthday in May, telling relatives she wanted to be buried next to her husband in Ecuador.<br><br>Her family thought her body was still at the Rivera Funeral Home in Queens when they saw a Guatemalan news report of a young widow wondering why an old woman was in a coffin supposed to be holding the body of her 38-year-old husband.<br><br>Carmen's family are now suing the funeral home after recovering the elderly woman's body from the widow and taking it to the South American country another 1,500 miles to the south.<br><br>'They kept saying that it was a 'small error',' son Carlos Maldonado said. 'They made us feel as though swapping or having the wrong bodies is not a significant thing to them.'<br><br><br><br><br>Carmen Maldonado was a New York mother-of-nine, and grandmother to 30, whose dying wish was to be buried next to her husband in her native Ecuador  <br><br><br><br><br><br>Her children were stunned to chance upon the TikTok of a Guatemalan news report revealing that her body had been delivered to an unrelated family 1,500 miles to the north <br><br>The family's relatives in Ecuador were expecting to receive the elderly woman's body for a viewing shortly after her death on May 18.<br><br>But eight days later her body arrived in Guatemala where widow Leonor  [https://jetblacktransportation.com/blog/long-distance-limo-hire/ long distance limo hire] Valencia was expecting the same funeral home to send the body of husband  [https://jetblacktransportation.com/blog/long-distance-limo-hire/ long distance limo hire] Elder Emilio Garcia who had died suddenly while working as a waiter in New York.<br><br>Local TV reporter Alcibiades Onofre spoke to the mother-of-two and posted his report to TikTok where it was spotted by Carmen's children.<br><br>'The funeral home led them to believe their mother's body was still in the building in Queens, and they were making excuses as to why there was a delay in transporting her to Ecuador,' Rizzuto said.<br><br>'Even though the TikTok indicated the woman in Guatemala was Carmen Maldonado, it was hard to believe because they were given different information from the funeral home.<br><br>'The funeral home told the daughter Rosa that, no, we have your mother here. And they denied it.<br><br>'But then when they showed up the next day, and they showed them the video, the funeral home admitted that they made a mistake.'<br><br>Carmen's youngest son Manuel Minchala, 51, flew to Guatemala where he met little help from the authorities.<br><br>'They tried to bury my mom in Guatemala, and I was begging the people there,' he said.<br><br>'I had to deal with the health department,  [https://jetblacktransportation.com/blog/long-distance-limo-hire/ long distance limo hire] the police, a lot of big, big processes to export the body to a different country.'<br><br>'I couldn't believe that this could be such a big confusion,' his sister Rosa Sicha said. 'I started to cry, and I was incredibly upset.'<br><br><br><br><br>It was more than two weeks before the family was able to get her body out of Guatemala<br><br><br><br><br><br>'They kept saying that it was a 'small error',' son Carlos Maldonado said. 'They made us feel as though swapping or having the wrong bodies is not a significant thing to them'<br><br><br><br><br><br>Guatemalan widow Leonor Valencia was expecting the same funeral home to send the body of husband Elder Emilio Garcia who had died suddenly while working as a waiter in New York<br><br><br><br>@alcibiadesonofretv #tiktok #news #fypシ゚viral #nyc #noticias #usa🇺🇸 #guatemala🇬🇹 #guatemala #chapin #chapines502🇬🇹 #ecuadortiktok #ecuador #ecuador🇪🇨 #ecuatorianoyosoy🇪🇨👑 #ecuatorianosporelmundo🇪🇨🌏💫 #ecuatorianos🇪🇨en🔵usa🇺🇲 <br><br>♬ Epic News - DM Production<br><br>New York's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection had sued the funeral home's parent company RG Ortiz just a month earlier after discovering that 74 customers had lodged complaints against it in the previous six years.<br><br>In August the company agreed to pay $604,000 in restitution after admitting to presenting bodies in 'unacceptable conditions' refusing to tell grieving families their relatives' remains were, and misleading families about prices.<br><br>'Money will never heal the wounds RG Ortiz's conduct inflicted, but we're proud to hold this business accountable and secure justice for our neighbors,' Department Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga said in a statement.<br><br>It was June 10 before Carmen's youngest son was able to get his mother's body out of Guatemala and on a plane to her native Ecuador.<br><br>'The hands of the body, the skin was falling off, so they had to wrap them in Saran wrap,' Rizzuto told the NY Post.<br><br>'I can't imagine what the family is feeling like, or what the family went through seeing that.'<br><br>Now the family has filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified damages for 'great mental pain, severe anguish, distress of mind, nervous shock and the impairment of peace and happiness'.<br><br>'Why did the funeral home lie to us?' demanded Manuel, 51. 'My mom was in Guatemala for 16 days.'<br><br>'It was all about money. Not even an animal can make a mistake like this.'<br><br><br>TikTokNew York<br><br>