We’ve kept you up to date on the happenings with the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose, Colorado and its owner Megan Hess since last winter when the company was alleged to have sold body parts without permission from bodies entrusted to it for funeral or memorial services.  According to an article you can read and see video of here from KJCT in Colorado, it is reported that Ms. Hess has been banned from funeral service in Colorado for life according to the state’s Office of Funeral Home and Crematory Registration.  From the news article there is a link to the actual stipulation order from the State of Colorado and signed by Ms. Hess.

If you remember from our articles, Ms. Hess ran both a mortuary business and a for-profit body donation service from the same facility in Montrose.  After complaints were filed with authorities the FBI began investigating the business along with the Colorado authorities.  The article maintains that the FBI is still completing their investigation.

One of the alleged crimes, by at least one family,  is that the funeral home would donate a full body and then say the body was cremated.  The articles states that, in at least some cases, the remains given back to the family was concrete powder.

Funeral Director Daily take:  We are glad that the state of Colorado moved fairly rapidly in this case.  There is certainly the “Innocent until proven Guilty” philosophy, but a signed consent order by the accused somewhat points to the fact that there was truth to the story.

Happenings like this are tough for our industry simply because most funeral directors put so much time and money into positive public relations.  When stories like this hit the public it casts doubt on much of the good that funeral directors do in their communities.

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