Woman sues over father's cremation

An Amityville woman says she will sue a funeral home and the facility that cremated her father's remains after finding pieces of metal, bone and teeth in the ashes presented to her days after his death last year.

The teeth make her worry those ashes may not even be her father's: He wore upper dentures, which she displayed for reporters at a news conference in her lawyer's Mineola office Thursday.

"It breaks your heart," said Jennie Spooner, 52, a rehabilitation therapist. "Nobody wants to see their parent go, but when this is attached to it, it's forever attached to it."

Spooner's lawyer, Jeff Lisabeth, said lawsuits against Hasgill Funeral Services of Amityville and Long Island Cremation of West Babylon were "inevitable." Hasgill, a funeral home, contracted the cremation to the West Babylon company, Lisabeth said.

A spokeswoman for the state Division of Cemeteries said in an email Thursday that an investigation found the crematory was "in violation of inadequately processing cremated remains and not separating them from foreign material. The crematory has been directed to take corrective action and the matter is currently under review by Division staff and counsel for further enforcement action, if warranted."

The division may issue fines of up to $1,000 per violation for repeat offenders, she added.

Harry Spooner, a graphic artist who lived in North Patchogue, died in October at 79, of pneumonia, his daughter said.

His remains were cremated, his daughter said, adding she intended to scatter his ashes in places he'd loved, including Coney Island and North Patchogue's Canaan Lake, where sometimes he rowed his grandchildren.

But she saw metal nails, springs and what appeared to be at least one human upper canine tooth as soon as she lifted the clear plastic bag containing the ashes out of its box.

Spooner was frantic and dumbfounded, she recalled. "How could something like this possibly happen?"

When she called the funeral home, she said, she received no apology about the ashes. "They wanted me to bring them in to have them reground."

A man who answered the phone at Long Island Cremations read a statement he said was prepared by the company's lawyer: "This is a sacred place and we would like to protect the privacy and sanctity of the families who use our services."

A man who answered the phone at Hasgill Funeral Services said he had no comment, and referred questions to the Division of Cemeteries.

Lisabeth said he hoped the suit would lead to better practices for companies dealing with the deceased. "They're supposed to rest in peace."