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An apparent botch-up by a funeral director has resulted in an elderly man farewelling a stranger instead of his wife at her funeral in Waikato.
The mistake was discovered when Waikato Hospital mortuary staff realised after the cremation they still had the woman's body, the Waikato Times reported.
Yesterday hospital officials alleged the Hamilton East funeral director had picked up the right body but cremated it before telling the widower and allowing him to say goodbye to the right person.
However, Riverside Funeral Service director Roy Waide denied the incident had happened.
The mix-up happened two weeks ago and was revealed through anonymous calls to the Waikato Times yesterday.
Melinda Ch'ng, Waikato District Health Board group manager clinical and support services, said Mr Waide collected the wrong body because he did not follow correct procedure to identify the woman, who was covered with a sheet.
Mrs Ch'ng said they discovered the mistake within hours but were too late to stop the cremation at Hamilton's Newstead Crematorium.
They immediately contacted all people involved, including the family of both deceased, to inform them of the situation.
It was not known if the dead man's family held a funeral for him.
Mrs Ch'ng said a registration card had to be filled in by whoever deposited the body at the mortuary and the person collecting it had to sign to confirm that they had checked the identity of the body.
Their records showed Mr Waide had signed the card confirming identity.
Mrs Ch'ng said an investigation had been started.
The man's family had also wanted him cremated and both his ashes and those of the woman were now with the correct families.
When approached at his Grey St business yesterday, Mr Waide did not want to be quoted, and denied repeatedly that the incident ever took place.
"I think I would (remember) ... There are heaps of rumours in our industry."
- NZPA
