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Former Mass. medical examiner on trial in N.H. crematorium case

Written by DeadGirl
Thursday, 11 January 2007
By Philip Elliott, Associated Press Writer January 8, 2007 BRENTWOOD, N.H. --A former Massachusetts medical examiner had an illegal side business going when he signed cremation certificates for Bayview Crematory, a prosecutor said Monday. Dr. Putnam Breed, of Hampton Falls, is charged with taking money for signing the certificates without actually viewing the bodies. His trial began Monday in Rockingham County Superior Court on nine charges of falsifying documents and four theft charges. "He had an exclusive business relationship with Bayview," county prosecutor Tom Reid said. The state closed down the unlicensed crematory in Seabrook in February 2005 after police found unidentified remains, a body in a broken refrigeration unit and incomplete records. Breed, who had been a district medical examiner in Massachusetts, told police that Bayview owner Derek Wallace of Salisbury, Mass., hired him to inspect bodies and issue cremation certificates. Reid said Breed received $35 per form, and may have signed blank forms in batches. The crematory handled as many as 2,000 bodies each year from funeral homes in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. "Just for swinging by a place on the way home and signing your name, that's a lot of money," Reid said. Breed's lawyer, Phil Utter, said the doctor broke no state rules because there were none then regarding cremation certificates. During his opening arguments, Utter said instructions on crematory forms aren't rules. "That's what the forms say, no doubt about it. But there's no law," he said. He said the state medical examiner was supposed to draw up rules, but never did. "For their failures, these prosecutors want to make my client pay," Utter said. While the crematory's paperwork might have been shoddy, Breed shouldn't be punished, Utter argued. "Sloppy business practices is not a crime," he said. Breed is the first person to face trial in the scandal, but two other people have pleaded guilty and several others face criminal charges. The investigation began in 2004 after authorities arrested a New Hampshire deputy assistant medical examiner, Gene Nigro, on charges he signed cremation certificates without first seeing the bodies. Nigro pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years in prison. A former crematory employee, James Fuller, died of cancer shortly after pleading guilty to eight felony charges of falsifying cremation records. The investigation mostly focused on Bayview and Wallace, whose Massachusetts funeral director's license was suspended in August 2004. Prosecutors accused Wallace of transferring ownership of Bayview to his mother and stepfather to get around a Massachusetts law that prohibits funeral directors from owning crematoriums. Prosecutors said Wallace then schemed with his mother and stepfather to funnel clients from the Massachusetts funeral homes he operated to improperly documented cremations in New Hampshire. A number of civil lawsuits also have been filed against funeral homes in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts that sent the remains to Bayview. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/01/08/former_mass_medical_examiner_on_trial_in_nh_crematorium_case_1168299974/

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Taphophilia?

taphophilia (taf′ō-fil′ē-ă)

ORIGIN:
From the Greek words taphos, meaning "tomb" or "sepulcher" and philia, meaning "attraction or affinity to something, in particular the love or obsession with something"

DEFINITION: 1. An excessive interest in graves and cemeteries. 2. A love or fondness for funerals, graves, and cemeteries. 3. In psychiatry, a morbid attraction to graves and cemeteries