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Do better, IDFPR

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Illinois

* Beth Hundsdorfer at Capitol News Illinois…

State regulators allowed a Carlinville funeral director to operate for months despite a complaint filed by a local coroner who found a decomposing body in his funeral home and alleged the care of the remains was “unacceptable and criminal in nature.”

While trying to assist a local family with retrieving cremated remains in March, Morgan County Coroner Marcy Patterson found the unrefrigerated corpse in the embalming room of Heinz Funeral Home. She contacted the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, the state agency that oversees funeral directors, and filed a complaint.

IDFPR took no immediate action against the funeral home director Albert August “Gus” Heinz, allowing him to continue to handle arrangements for grieving and unsuspecting families.

Patterson followed up on her complaint in June after receiving a call from another family. She once again asked IDFPR to intervene.

It wasn’t until Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon held a press conference in September to express his outrage at what he’d seen that IDFPR finally took some action.

Go read the whole thing.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 12:31 pm

Comments

One fail after another for DFPR. This, as well as the back-ups related to licensing. Ugh.

Comment by Thinking Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 1:05 pm
Who’s in charge of IDFPR? Anyone know?

Comment by JB13 Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 1:13 pm
Wouldn’t any customers have noticed the odor?

Comment by Big Dipper Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 1:20 pm
Maybe Mayor Johnson could step in and take over IDFPR /s

Comment by Leigh John-Ella Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 1:56 pm
== Wouldn’t any customers have noticed the odor? ==

It appears the bodies were embalmed, so the smell might not have been that noticeable.

In terms of the length of the investigation, it would seem like after a week or two they could have gone to the guy and said “Dude, lets make this easier for everyone and you just give up your license now”

Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 2:55 pm
The article does an excellent job walking through what happened. However, IDFPR’s lack of full answers leads to questions about why IDFPR did what it did and whether the problem was with the investigation itself, or with the rules and regulations IDFPR follows.

Given the vitally important professions that IDFPR regulates, funeral director being just 1 example, it might be time for a thorough review of the IDFPR investigation processes to determine what the shortcomings are and how they can be corrected to prevent situations like this from happening in the future.

Comment by MyTwoCents Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 4:21 pm
The Governor has had a lot on his plate, so his lack of attention here isn’t surprising. IDFPR has never recovered from the 1-2-3 of ePAR, fund sweeps, and 2 years of no budget.

Comment by Anyone Remember Wednesday, Dec 6, 23 @ 4:39 pm