Doyle's Funeral Services rejects body mix-up claim in Roy Williams funeral dispute

Doyle's Funeral Services is defending its handling of the remains of Roy Williams after relatives alleged that the wrong body was taken to a funeral service at a Seventh-day Adventist Church last Sunday.

The company, in a statement issued Thursday, said it supports its staff and procedures and maintained that no mix-up occurred. According to the funeral home, the body collected by two members of staff was the same one handed over by the Westmoreland Infirmary, where Williams had lived before his death on March 21. Doyle's said the remains had been tagged by the infirmary.

Williams' relatives have rejected that account. They insisted the body presented was not their family member and said the remains they saw did not carry an identification tag. In an interview Monday, the family also said they were not asked to view the body before the funeral, even though they had delivered clothing for Williams.

The dispute has raised questions about the checks normally expected before burial. Calvin Lyn, a veteran funeral home operator and president of the Jamaica Association of Certified Embalmers and Funeral Directors, said funeral homes should confirm identity from the point of removal. He said an ID bracelet or band should carry the deceased person's name, date, address and age, and that the details should then be entered in a register along with next-of-kin information.

Lyn said his operation also measures remains, photographs bodies where needed, and writes names on torsos as an added safeguard. He said relatives should be brought in to identify their loved one before the funeral. He also cautioned against removing identification tags placed by hospitals, infirmaries or other institutions.

He noted that he had previously dealt with a case in which relatives questioned whether a body was their family member's, but accepted the identification after being shown proof. Lyn also said a person's appearance can change after death, especially where illness was involved.