'Never even opened the body bag': Family buries wrong person after hospital gave funeral home remains of someone else, lawsuit says

The household of a pistillate who died astatine a New England hospital is accusing the wellness halfway of giving the incorrect assemblage to a funeral home, who past allegedly failed to verify the remains adjacent arsenic loved ones grieved implicit the closed casket.

When Bell Funeral Home came to prime up Emilia L. Severino's body, Rhode Island Hospital "gave them the incorrect remains," the lawsuit filed successful Rhode Island Superior Court alleges. The ceremonial location "never verified that it had the close body, and, it appears, ne'er adjacent opened the assemblage container the remains were in," causing the household to clasp a "graveside, closed casket burial of their beloved mother, not knowing that wrong the casket was not their mother, but alternatively immoderate different person's remains."

"The incorrect assemblage was buried," the household adds.

Severino was 75 years aged erstwhile she was admitted to Rhode Island Hospital's Trauma Intensive Care Unit (TICU) connected Dec. 25, 2025, "due to occurrence and fume inhalation injuries she suffered that aforesaid day," the household states. Five days later, she died, and her assemblage was moved from TICU to the wellness center's morgue.

A catheter utilized to dainty Severino and its bandage were near connected her leg, and she was lone "partially clothed," the suit noted.

Severino's household members contacted Providence-based Bell Funeral Home "to grip the ceremonial arrangements and burial," and they accidental they signed the requisite forms, including 1 titled "Authorization for Transfer, Embalming, Other Preparation, Removal of Medical Devices and Identification." According to the family, 1 conception was not filled out, which stated, "The undersigned further states that they (HAVE)(HAVE NOT) identified the assemblage of the supra named decedent and presume each work and/or liability of anyone whomsoever for mistaken identity."

On Jan. 15, 2026, Bell Funeral Home allegedly "picked up what Defendant Rhode Island Hospital wrongly represented was Emilia Severino's body."

A signifier from the Providence infirmary attached to the suit shows infirmary employees' signatures identifying the assemblage arsenic Severino's, the household contends.

In the ensuing days, the ceremonial location reportedly asked the household to take covering for Severino to beryllium buried successful and to driblet those apparel disconnected with them, an advisement that the household followed. The ceremonial location besides allegedly "placed the hospital's achromatic assemblage container that had the remains believed to beryllium Emilia Severino into a achromatic assemblage bag," and past placed the achromatic assemblage container into a casket.

"Bell Funeral Home ne'er contacted the household to visually place the remains and corroborate that they were successful information Emilia Severino," nor did its workers place the remains themselves, the suit states. When 2 household members went "to effort to visually place the remains," the ceremonial location refused their request, telling them the assemblage "was excessively decomposed," which was not true, according to the family.

The suit alleges that the existent crushed down the refusal was that Bell Funeral Home "did not privation the household to see" that, alternatively of dressing Severino's assemblage successful the family's chosen clothes, they had "dropped the caller apparel – inactive connected hangers and inactive with each tags connected them – into the casket connected apical of the achromatic assemblage bag." Were they to person opened the achromatic assemblage bag, they would person seen "a license, toed tag, and akin tags that intelligibly identified the assemblage arsenic idiosyncratic different than Emilia Severino."

Then came the time of the burial, connected Jan. 19, 2026. From the lawsuit, astatine length:

[T]he household held a closed casket graveside burial of their beloved mother, Emilia Severino, not knowing arsenic they grieved that it was immoderate different assemblage successful the casket.

At the burial, Bell Funeral Home had occupation with the closed casket arsenic a portion of cloth oregon different worldly was keeping the lid from securing properly.

As Bell Funeral Home attempted to hole this they needed to assistance the closed casket's lid, and the grieving household saw that wrong the casket was a wholly zipped up achromatic assemblage bag, and the apparel they had lovingly bought to person their parent dressed successful had conscionable been dumped connected apical of the assemblage bag, with each the tags and hangers inactive connected the caller clothes.

The household inactive did not cognize that these remains they were grieving with and for were not successful information their mother.

Eventually Bell Funeral Home fixed the contented with sealing the casket, and the remains the household thought were their mother, Emilia Severino, were buried.

The adjacent day, Rhode Island Hospital "made the household alert that the infirmary had provided the ceremonial location the incorrect body," the suit adds, saying the wellness halfway allegedly lone came to that realization aft a antithetic ceremonial location asked for the assemblage misidentified arsenic Severino.

The household further alleges that Rhode Island Hospital and Bell Funeral Home "had initially wanted to conscionable 'switch' the bodies without telling the family," but the cemetery would not exhume the assemblage without Severino's family's permission. The household ended up granting permission; the assemblage was exhumed, and Severino's household members went backmost to the infirmary to place their mother's body.

Bell Funeral Home past "unceremoniously, without due decorum oregon respect," drove a assemblage container of Severino's remains backmost to the cemetery, dropped it into the casket, and she was buried.

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The household contends that arsenic a effect of "negligence" by the infirmary and ceremonial home, its members person been near "shocked" with "severe affectional distress" and "extreme intelligence anguish." They accidental the defendants "have taken" from them "their quality to decently mourn, grieve and hide their parent with respect and grant arsenic they nonstop their loving parent to the different side."

They question a assemblage trial.

In a connection to Providence-based NBC affiliate WJAR, Rhode Island Hospital said that erstwhile it became alert of the mistake, "the infirmary instantly initiated a broad interior review. As a effect of that review, the worker progressive was fto go. While Rhode Island Hospital has strict policies and procedures governing each morgue operations, we are committed to strengthening our processes, including implementing further safeguards, to guarantee this does not hap again."

Bell Funeral Home reportedly did not respond to the outlet's petition for comment.