Funeral home for vets faces complaint

A funeral home that helps handle veterans awaiting burial at Arlington National Cemetery left corpses in an unrefrigerated garage, in hallways and on makeshift gurneys, according to a former embalmer who has given his photographs and notes to authorities, the Washington Post reported Sunday.

“It was disturbing and disrespectful and unethical,” said Steven Napper, a retired Maryland trooper who worked at the funeral home for nine months. “I never could have imagined what I saw there or the things we were asked to do.”

Napper said he saw as many as 200 corpses not properly cared for while working at National Funeral Home in Falls Church, Va., from May until he quit in February. National Funeral Home also embalms and stores bodies for four other funeral homes that are part of Houston-based Service Corp. International.

The Post reported that Napper’s documentation and the observations of three other employees and a grieving son have sparked an investigation by the Virginia Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers.

Service Corp. International’s Virginia Funeral Services is investigating but has found its facilities comply with laws and regulations, company President J. Scott Young said in a statement.

No employee brought such conditions to the company’s attention, he said.

“Our company is committed to treating all human remains with the utmost dignity and respect at all times,” he said.

In 2003, Service Corp. International reached a $100-million settlement with hundreds of families over allegations involving two Florida cemeteries, including digging up graves and burying people in the wrong places.