State revokes license for Detroit funeral home, manager
(CBS DETROIT) - The Board of Examiners revoked the license of a shuttered Detroit funeral home, along with its manager.
The board, part of the License and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), also ordered Compassion Funeral Home and Cremation Service, previously operating at 21551 Fenkell Ave., to pay a $110,000 fine.
The manager, John N. Olszewski, was ordered to pay $170,000.
LARA began its investigation after a complaint from a family did not receive the cremated remains of their relative. An additional complaint was filed by the Tri-County Cremation Services, L.L.C., after it received several bounced checks from the funeral home.
Receipt of those complaints prompted LARA's Corporations, Securities & Commercial Licensing Bureau (CSCL) to inspect the establishment in September and October 2019.
"Licensed mortuary scientists are required to obtain authorization for final disposition from the next-of-kin and a burial transit permit before transporting dead human bodies to cemeteries or crematories and must take care in completing and electronically signing death certificates," said CSCL Director Linda Clegg. "Otherwise, death certificates are rendered unreliable, and it makes it impossible to obtain the approval of a county medical examiner to cremate a body in a timely manner. It is imperative that a fully licensed mortuary scientist ensures that this occurs and is physically present at the funeral establishment to supervise the individual resident trainee he or she is sponsoring at all times."
An administrative law judge, in part, made the following findings regarding Compassion Funeral Home and Cremation Service and Olszewski after a hearing June 2022:
- Although Olszewski was the establishment's designated manager, he was rarely present at the facility and allowed an unsupervised individual who held an expired mortuary science resident trainee license, Gerald John Ruffin, Jr., to manage the funeral establishment's day-to-day activities.
- Olszewski and the funeral establishment aided and abetted another unlicensed establishment and individual to oversee the funeral services and final disposition of a dead human body.
- Olszewski permitted an agent of the funeral establishment to transport five dead human bodies to a crematory, Tri-County Cremation Services, L.L.C., without burial transit permits and without first obtaining authorization from the next of kin of the deceased to oversee their final dispositions, resulting in months-long delays in achieving final disposition.
- Olszewski permitted for cremation services to be paid with $7,000 in bounced checks, constituting fraud, deceit, or dishonesty in the practice of mortuary science.
- Olszewski unknowingly signed a death certificate indicating that a human body was buried at a cemetery in Detroit when that body was awaiting cremation at a crematory facility. The funeral establishment transported the body to Tri-County Cremation Services, L.L.C. in 2019, and the same body remained there until the spring of 2021 when LARA discovered it during an investigation of the crematory facility. The body was still awaiting cremation due to a lack of authorization for final disposition.
- Olszewski permitted the establishment's embalming room to be used as a storage area and to fall into such a state of disarray, filth, and disrepair that it was not fully equipped to embalm bodies. The embalming machines were not operational at all during a second inspection of the facility and there was a strong, foul odor in the air.
- Olszewski's and the funeral establishment's conduct demonstrated incompetence and gross negligence in the practice of mortuary science.
The final order was sent by mail and email on Oct.11, 2022, to Mr. Olszewski and Compassion Funeral Home.
Members of the public who have questions or concerns regarding the operation of Michigan's funeral homes should contact LARA at 517-241-7000, or by email at funeralhomes@michigan.gov.