Losing a loved one is difficult enough on its own, but couple that with the loss of your loved one's remains and things may feel unbearable. Unfortunately, this is what happened to one Clayton County family, prompting them to file a lawsuit. According to the suit, which was filed earlier this week, the family of Paulette Patricia Bradley received the ashes of someone else when they went to lay Bradley to rest. Named as defendants in the suit are Southern Regional Medical Center, Speer-Shelton Funeral Home and Cremation Services of Atlanta.Since the suit was filed, the situation has “devolved into a back-and-forth between a distressed family and businesses who say they’ve been wrongfully accused.” The suit accuses the defendants of “fraud along with deceit and misrepresentation because of their alleged mishandling of the remains,” though isn't seeking specific monetary damages. The family does, however, want a “jury to determine it's level of mental distress and suffering.”

Crematory; image courtesy of Autumn Snake via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org

Bradley passed away earlier this year on September 26 at the age of 69 after suffering complications of Alzheimer's disease. When commenting on the matter, Bradley's daughter, Regina Wynn, said it was “just unbelievable.” Wynn was the one who looked after her mother for 14 years after she received her Alzheimer's diagnosis.Shortly after Bradley's death, “Wynn and her family held a service...on September 29 with what they thought were Bradley’s remains.” However, two weeks later the hospital contacted Wynn and notified her about the mix-up. It turns out that on October 11, someone was at the hospital to pick up Bradley's remains. According to the family's attorney, “there are so many different versions of what happened that the family felt the only way to find the truth was through litigation.”So far, all three of the defendants have pushed back against the allegations and declined any wrongdoing. Kimberly Golden-Benner, a spokeswoman for the hospital issued a statement that said, “Southern Regional had no role in what occurred after the body was properly released to the funeral home.”Edwin Shelton, “whose wife owns the McDonough funeral home,” chimed in and said he “doesn’t feel the family is acting in good faith.” He added, “If they were being truthful, I would have no problem at all.” He also noted that “there was no name on the box when he received the ashes, and there was no death certificate.” As a result, he thinks the blame should fall to the crematory. He said the crematory was “supposed to pick up two bodies for him that day, but only picked up one.” He added that once he “realized there had been a mistake, he refunded the family and gave them some extra money,” and said, “I’m willing to work out everything with this family...I haven’t got this far trying to cheat anyone.”However, Mike Boston with the crematory said he never delivered “unmarked ashes to Shelton and said he didn’t receive authorization to cremate Bradley until the day Wynn got the call from Southern Regional to claim the body.”

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Atlanta family says mother’s ashes were swapped. Now they are suing.Family says they received wrong ashes during memorial service