Ohio coroner fires employee blamed for error that led to body of wrong baby being cremated
By APFriday, May 28, 2010
Ohio coroner cans worker after wrong baby cremated
COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio coroner has fired an employee blamed for an error that led to the body of a 1-year-old boy being cremated against his family’s wishes.
Franklin County Coroner Jan Gorniak fired seven-year employee Angela Summerfield on Wednesday, saying she did not follow proper procedure and released the wrong body to a funeral home.
The coroner says Summerfield’s error led to last week’s release of the body of 1-year-old Jaylen Talley, instead of the body of a 22-day-old infant whose family wanted cremation.
Summerfield says she checked identification tags before releasing the body to a funeral home driver. She says she plans a wrongful termination lawsuit.
Gorniak now requires employees to take photographs to identify bodies before release. She plans to install security cameras to monitor employees.
