(ROSEMONT) Two more lawsuits have been filed against northwest suburban crematory facilities that, families allege, sold their loved ones’ body parts for profit instead of disposing of them properly.
The lawsuits were filed Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court by the families of Joseph J. Sendarak and Thomas J. Hayes.
Sendarak died in December 2014. Before his passing, he and his family completed a “Document of Authorization for Anatomical Gift,” which stipulated that his body be donated to the Biological Resource Center of Illinois, located in Rosemont, for medical and scientific research, the suit stated.
After his death, his remains were to be cremated. On Jan 6. 2015, an employee of the Biological Resource Center of Illinois gave Sendarak’s family a box purporting to contain his remains, the suit stated. The employee told them that his entire body had been cremated, in accordance with his wishes, after researchers had completed their studies.
Later that month, after the FBI raided the facility, Sendarak’s family learned the remains they were given “do not include his head and parts of his arms,” the suit stated.
Hayes died in September 2013 and, like Sendarak, had arranged for his remains to be donated to scientific and medical research, according to the filing.
Hayes’ family was also given a box of ashes, purported to be his entire body, the suit stated.
“[Hayes’ family] learned that after most of the body of Thomas J. Hayes, Deceased, was ‘leased’ for medical study, many of his body parts were removed and sold for profit by [the Biological Resource Center of Illinois],” the suit stated.
A representative for the Biological Resource Center of Illinois did not respond to request for comment Tuesday evening.
Several other medical facilities — including two in Phoenix and Michigan — were also named as defendants.
The families of both men allege intention infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, wrongful disposition of body, common law fraud, violation of Illinois consumer fraud act, civil conspiracy and negligent referral. They are seeking an undisclosed amount in damages.
