A New Mexico family is suing two funeral homes after their deceased relative’s brain was included in a bag of her personal effects.
“A brain is not what you’d expect with the return of personal effects, which included the clothing she was wearing at the time of her death and the jewelry she had on,” said Richard Valle, the New Mexico-based attorney representing the family, only identified by initials in the lawsuit.
The family did not want to be named in order to “minimize disruption” to their lives, according to the court documents. They declined requests for an interview.
The dead woman reportedly died in a car crash in Utah in September.
Valle said that sometime during the process of transporting her body from Utah to New Mexico for burial, her brain was put in a plastic bag, labeled “brain” and later given to the family.