Pa. couple accuses funeral homes of sending them son’s brain



A Pennsylvania couple is suing funeral homes in Philadelphia and Georgia for allegedly mishandling their son’s remains, claiming they were sent his brain in an unmarked, leaking box.

Lawrence and Abbey Butler say they hired Southern Cremations & Funerals in Cheantham Hill, Ga., to handle their son’s funeral arrangements and transport his body to his native Pennsylvania.

Their son, 56-year-old Timothy Garlington, died on Nov. 15, 2023, in Georgia, where he had been living at the time.

About two weeks later, the Butlers went to Nix & Nix Funeral Home in Philadelphia to collect their son’s personal belongings. Among the items they received was a “white, unmarked cardboard box,” the lawsuit states.

On their way home, the box “began to smell and leak fluids,” the couple claims.

They later contacted the funeral home and were “informed that the box contained their decedent son’s brain and/or brain matter,” according to the lawsuit. “As a direct and proximate result of the defendants’ negligence, plaintiffs came into direct physical contact with liquid from their decedent son’s brain.”

On Thursday, the Butlers held a press conference at their lawyers’ office in Philadelphia’s Center City neighborhood.

“It is still in my heart that I got in my car and I smelled death,” Lawrence Butler said, fighting back tears. “I had to get rid of that car. I just couldn’t stand the idea that the remains were in that car.”

L. Chris Stewart, one of the family’s attorneys, said the funeral homes have yet to offer an apology or any explanation for what happened.

The owner of Nix & Nix Funeral Home told NBC Philadelphia that his staff was unaware the box contained brain matter, explaining that employees did not open it and assumed it held only personal belongings.

The Butlers are suing for compensatory and punitive damages, with the exact amount to be determined at trial.

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