MEDIA – A Chester man alleges that his mother’s body was transferred from a local hospital, embalmed and cremated without his knowledge or consent, despite the fact that he was the listed next-of-kin and should have been consulted about any such decision.
Richard Payne of Chester filed suit in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas on May 10 versus Kyle T. Rawls and Reginald L. Rawls (trading as “Earl L. Foster Funeral Home”) of Chester, Derrick Gore (trading as “Gore Funeral Services”), Gore Funeral Home, LLC and Gore Funeral Services, LLC of Wilmington, Del. and Prospect Crozer, LLC and Prospect CCMC, LLC (trading as “Crozer Chester Medical Center”), of Upland.
“Plaintiff’s mother Tawala Kaywood passed away on May 12, 2021 at Crozer Chester Medical Center. She was unmarried at the time of her death. Plaintiff is the only son and only offspring of his mother Kaywood, therefore the sole closest living relative to him, Plaintiff is the only next of kin under Pennsylvania law. There was no will of decedent Kaywood specifying other authority for control of her remains. Plaintiff was neither estranged from his mother nor incompetent and there was no clear and convincing evidence of contrary intent or waiver and agreement,” the suit says.
“Plaintiffs mother was in CCMC for approximately two and a half months, before she passed away at CCMC. Plaintiff visited his mother in the hospital approximately every other day throughout his mother’s hospital stay until she passed away. CCMC called plaintiff numerous times to get consent for all medical procedures, as well as inform him of his mother’s status and prognosis. Plaintiff was present at the time his mother passed away. Plaintiff was in charge of all medical decisions concerning his mother, including but not limited to, a decision for a tracheotomy. Plaintiff is listed by name relationship to decedent phone number and address in the CCMC records as the only emergency contact.”
The suit continues that the plaintiff’s mother passed away on May 12, 2021 and soon afterwards, the plaintiff picked up her medical records from the hospital but did not consent to the release for transfer of his mother’s body – however, this occurred shortly afterwards nonetheless, with his mother’s body being picked up by employees of Gore Funeral Home and then transferred to Earl L. Foster Funeral Home for embalming.
“Sometime shortly after May 12, 2021, the body of plaintiff’s mother, Kaywood, was cremated by defendants Derrick Gore and/or Gore Funeral Home and/or Gore Funeral Services, either by defendant Derrick Gore personally or by agents, servants, workmen and/or employees of defendants Gore Funeral Home and/or Gore Funeral Services. The cremation was performed without the knowledge or consent of plaintiff. Defendants, each of them, knew or should have known that the decedent did not want embalming or cremation and plaintiff did not want embalming or cremation for his mother,” the suit states.
“Plaintiff was the only one to hold the privilege or authority for disposition of the body and that privilege or authority was not transferred to anyone, including defendants. Plaintiff did not authorize any transfer by defendants, CCMC and Crozer, to any other entity, including defendants. Plaintiff did not authorize any transfer by any of the defendants to any other entity, including any of the defendants. Plaintiff did not receive notification from any of the defendants of their intent to release, transfer and/or embalm the body and/or cremate the body. Defendants, each of them, acted with a conscious indifference or reckless disregard of the high risk of causing serious mental distress and physical symptoms.”
For multiple counts of negligence, tortious interference with a dead body, invasion of privacy, the plaintiff is seeking compensatory damages from each of the defendants in excess of $50,000.
The plaintiff is represented by James D. Famiglio of James D. Famiglio, P.C. in Media.
The defendants have not yet secured legal counsel.
Delaware County Court of Common Pleas case CV-2022-003350
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com