Funeral Home Mix-Up
Shortly after Philip Bradbourn was re-elected as a conservative politician in England, he was diagnosed with bowel cancer. Sadly, Mr. Bradbourn lost his battle against the disease and died at age 63. The politician’s funeral took place a month later at Bushbury Crematorium.
However, it recently emerged that a mortuary had accidentally released the body of another man who had wrongly been cremated in Mr. Bradbourn’s place. This occurred after another man, named Philip Bradburn who had no close family or relatives, died at a nearby hospital around the same time. It is thought that his body was taken to the same funeral care mortuary as Mr. Bradbourn where the mix-up occurred.
Mr. Bradbourn’s devastated family was told about the blunder the next month, and a second funeral was held on February 23rd.
In a statement, Dr. Andrew Catto, from Heart of England NHS Trust, which runs Good Hope Hospital, apologized for the “incredibly distressing situation,” adding, “we are very sorry that this has happened – we are carrying out a full and urgent investigation between all the parties involved.”
See Hospital Apologizes After Wrong Body Was Cremated At Funeral of Conservative MEP, Express, March 6, 2015.