Did This Happen to You?
Falls Church Funeral Home Scandal - Service Corporation International Funeral Fraud - National Funeral Home Veteran's Bodies Scandal
By David Charlip
A former embalmer for National Funeral Home turned over photographs and notes to authorities recently showing corpses, some of which were veterans awaiting burial at Arlington National Cemetery, that were left unrefrigerated, on makeshift gurneys and in hallways at a central facility for funeral homes in and around the Falls Church, VA/Washington, DC area.
The former employee was an honored state trooper and a reliable source for investigators. He worked at National Funeral Home for nine months. He said he saw as many as 200 mishandled corpses in the time he worked there. It is possible that there were victims from four different funeral homes and 12 cemeteries in the Washington DC area. All the funeral homes and cemeteries are part of Service Corporation International (SCI), the world's largest funeral services conglomerate. Some of the facilities are:
- Demaine Funeral Home (Alexandria, VA)
- Danzansky-Goldberg Memorial Chapel
- National Funeral Home (Falls Church, VA)
- Mount Comfort Cemetery
- The Alexandria Cemetery
Currently, National is being investigated by the Virginia Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers. Service Corporation International won't comment on the charges or acknowledge that its own employees have come forward with allegations that bodies were left on unrefrigerated racks, for example, because the company did not want to spend more money on necessary resources. Even though there are photos, SCI officials are saying they still can't substantiate the evidence against them (April 7, 2009 Washington Post).
It wasn't only employees that saw the mishandled bodies. Recently a relative of a deceased army veteran followed his father's body to, what he thought was a predetermined facility, where the body would be processed properly. Instead of the place he thought his father would go; he followed the National Funeral Home vehicle to an SCI central facility where he witnessed bodies stacked on storage racks, unrefrigerated corpses, leaking corpses and bodies in various stages of decomposition.
Imagine the emotional shock a family would endure knowing that their loved one was victimized in this way. Some of the deceased were war heroes waiting for burial at Arlington National Cemetery where tourists respectfully stop to bid farewell to veterans who have earned such an honor.
For years Charlip Law Group, LC has stood watch over companies that could be in a position to take advantage the deceased or the family of the decedent. If you think you may have been harmed by a situation like this we may be able to help you. Contact the Mortuary/Funeral Service Attorneys at Charlip Law Group, LC at 1-800-773-1955. Or send us a confidential email at
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