Grill smoke

I grilled hot dogs for dinner. I'm keeping this short because I have a long story.

After my mom (who lived in Oregon) unexpectedly died last June, I wanted answers. The funeral home said I could pay for an autopsy done by a company in California. It cost over $7,000, $1,000 of which went to the funeral home. I figured it could be worth it to find out why and to know if there was anything hereditary.

The company's website said it could take up to 150 days and that I'd get updates. The autopsy was performed on July 2. Months passed and I'd heard nothing. I called and was told I would get called back. No one ever called back. Eventually, the company stopped picking up my calls.

I emailed the funeral home in early November asking if they knew what was going on. The director emailed the autopsy company and CC'd me. The company replied to me and said it expected to get the results in a couple of weeks. I never got another reply.

I did some digging and found that the owner of that company has done this several times. She even lost a lawsuit a few years ago after a man paid around $10,000 for an autopsy on his wife. One was never even performed! There are reviews for this company and a previous company with a different name owned by the same person that all say the same thing. People paid thousands of dollars for an autopsy and never heard back.

In late January, I searched around for lawyers. I wrote and called over two dozen and finally got one willing to take up the case. She was so offended about this, she said she would do this pro bono. She said to give her some time to research.

After a few weeks, the lawyer sent me a draft letter to serve the autopsy company. It demanded the results, my money back, and money for pain and suffering. After a few more weeks. I was told she couldn't find the owner of the company to serve her but that they would try alternative methods. I did more digging and found possible addresses and other information, but I couldn't verify any of it. I sent it to my lawyer anyway.

I continued to dig and only found possible former addresses and phone numbers, though I did find a P.O. box, which made me suspect there was no physical address for this company. Meanwhile, my lawyer sent me phone transcripts used in a lawsuit that showed the owner making claims and promises for months but the person who paid not ever seeing the autopsy report.

Then, two days ago, I got an email from the company's owner with the autopsy report attached. It had been 310 days since the autopsy was performed. The letterhead had the pathologist's name, address of the lab he worked in, and the phone number and email address of the autopsy company (that email address used the name of the former autopsy company that had been sued and lost).

I looked up the lab's address and found a phone number, which I called. I was connected to the pathologist. I asked him why it would take so long to get the autopsy report and how long they normally take to get done. He said he had the report ready within 30 days, in late July or early August. What took so long was he hadn't been paid.

It's scams all around with that autopsy company! She took my money and didn't pay the pathologist! The only reason I got the report was because my lawyer recently emailed the company.

All of this brought up the grief and anger all over again. I've asked my lawyer to go after this company to get me a refund because this is unacceptable. I also am going to go to the media where the company is and possibly the attorney general.