Springhill Medical Center in Mobile, Ala. (Google Maps).
An Alabama woman found herself facing another devastating blow after the passing of her mother when she received a distressing call from the funeral home regarding the condition of her loved one. In the midst of her grief, she has decided to take legal action against the hospital where her mother passed away.
After the death of her mother, Charlene Williams, due to heart failure in December 2023, Toilicia Williams entrusted Small’s Mortuary with her mother’s body. However, she was shocked when the funeral home contacted her, urging her to come and see her mother, who was in an advanced stage of decomposition. The lawsuit, filed in Mobile County, describes how Charlene Williams’ body was in such a deteriorated state that the family could not hold a traditional open-casket funeral service.
The legal action, shared by Williams’ attorney Roger Varner, is pointing fingers at Springhill Medical Center for negligence and reckless behavior in the handling of Charlene Williams’ remains. Allegedly, the body was kept in a poorly refrigerated room for over a day. Varner highlighted in an interview with local news that the medical center lacked a proper morgue, only possessing a cooling room for deceased individuals.
In the same interview, Williams described the experience of receiving the disturbing call from the funeral home, who apparently told her and her brothers, “We need you to get down here. We need to talk to you.” When they arrived, they saw the state of their late mother, whose body was in an unexpectedly advanced state of decomposition and bloated.
Williams told WALA, “I cried. It was me and my two other brothers. We fell down to the floor. It was just devastating to see her like that.”
A spokesperson for Springhill Medical Center told WALA that they do not comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit does not claim any wrongdoing took place before Charlene Williams’ death. Her surviving daughter is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for the hospital’s alleged mistreatment of her mother’s body.
