Dozens of Colorado residents file complaints against funeral homes and crematories each year. Several funeral homes are then investigated and disciplined over those complaints.
But unless they鈥檙e reported on by media outlets, many of the stories of alleged misconduct live in relative obscurity deep inside . The stories included in this database range from funeral homes and crematories operating without licenses to cases of allegedly storing bodies improperly.
萝莉少女 scanned through the dozens of documents and discovered the state sent a cease and desist order to the Greenwood & Myers mortuary in Frederick after investigators learned it was operating without a license. How did investigators discover the mortuary was unlicensed? Well, the roof of the mortuary caught fire last April, and that caught the attention of officials.
The state permanently maintains all records showing the actions taken, or not taken, in response to complaints. Each cease and desist order and letter of admonition is posted in the database as quickly as an hour after it鈥檚 sent to the business.
But cases sometimes live in this database for months or years without much attention. In state where funeral homes aren鈥檛 regularly inspected and misconduct keeps making national headlines, the database can be a useful first step toward finding out if a funeral home has ever been disciplined for misconduct, and why.
How can I vet a funeral home or mortuary myself?
Step one is to make sure the facility has a valid and active license in Colorado.
To do that, as the license type. Then start by typing in the names of businesses.
If you don鈥檛 have a particular business in mind, you can also search by city or zip code to find a list of licensed businesses in your area.
If the business has a valid license, it will say 鈥渁ctive鈥� in green.
If it doesn鈥檛, it鈥檒l show up as either 鈥渆xpired,鈥� 鈥渞evoked鈥� or 鈥渟uspended.鈥�
This site will also list any records of disciplinary action against a funeral home or crematorium under 鈥渂oard program/actions.鈥�
To learn more about what happened regarding disciplinary actions, click on the 鈥渟earch for document鈥� link, where you鈥檒l be taken to a separate database.
How can I read the reports of disciplinary action?
All of the reports are , called the 鈥淒ivision of Professions and Occupations Public Documents鈥� page.
If you鈥檙e looking for disciplinary records on a specific funeral home, enter it in the "business name" box and then select 鈥渇uneral home and crematory鈥� in the state board box.
This is where things get a little clunky.
It may take as long as a minute for the documents to load. Katie O鈥橠onnell, a spokesperson for the state鈥檚 Department of Regulatory Agencies, tells 萝莉少女 there鈥檚 a lag right now because the state is working behind the scenes to move hundreds of documents over to a new software platform.
鈥淲e're a month into a three-month process,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he idea is that once it's all up on the new system, then those will load faster and we won't have that lag.鈥�
O鈥橠onnell expects the database will be loading documents more quickly by December.
Once documents are loaded, Click on the blue link on the left side of the documents page under the "barcode" column to open the file.
O鈥橠onnell said it鈥檚 worth waiting for the documents to load.
鈥淭his is basically a starting point,鈥� O鈥橠onnell said. 鈥淵ou can make sure (a funeral home or crematorium) is in our system, and then make sure they don鈥檛 have something going on that you would be concerned sending a loved there for services.鈥�
O鈥橠onnell said grieving families may not have the time or energy to do this kind of research. She said if that鈥檚 the case, asking a friend to do it could be helpful while deciding which business to choose.
So who is keeping tabs on these funeral homes?
Almost nobody. The state鈥檚 Department of Regulatory Agencies, or DORA, regulates them along with hundreds of other businesses, from river outfitters to landscape architects.
A report the state released this month shows it doesn鈥檛 even have a one full-time employee responsible for inspecting and regulating the 220 funeral homes and 77 crematories that are actively registered in the state.
The state does not do random spot checks or regular inspections of mortuaries,
The state says it doesn鈥檛 have enough money or staff to do regular inspections. So they wait for complaints.
鈥淏ecause DORA is a complaint based agency, if we don鈥檛 hear what鈥檚 going on, or that there鈥檚 something strange going on (at a funeral home), we don鈥檛 know to send an investigator out,鈥� O鈥橠onnell said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know to do an assessment.鈥�
How do our Colorado funeral home regulations compare to other states?
Colorado has some of the most lax regulations in the country. Other states including Texas require periodic inspections. Some require annual inspections or even make it a prerequisite to getting a license.
Colorado is also the only state that doesn鈥檛 license and regulate the people working in these funeral homes and crematories. The state only regulates and requires a license for the business itself. Other states go as far as to require mortuary workers to receive some form of continuing education.
The funeral home I鈥檓 thinking of using has a valid license in Colorado. How does that protect me?
Regulators say having an active license only signifies the funeral home is doing the bare minimum it is legally required to to do business in Colorado.
While not having a license could indicate a funeral home has been disciplined or had it revoked in the past, O鈥橠onnell says having an active license doesn鈥檛 actually mean very much in terms of showing that the business is doing good work each day.
That鈥檚 because the license is not tied to any inspection or outside review of the business.
鈥淭hat just means you actually paid your bill that year,鈥� she said of the license. 鈥淣ot that you did good business practice.鈥�
I keep seeing disturbing stories about funeral homes in Colorado mistreating bodies. Is anyone doing anything to prevent it?
State lawmakers tell 萝莉少女 they鈥檙e working on a bill for the upcoming legislative session to add new regulations to the industry because of the ongoing cases of alleged misconduct.
State Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Frisco, said he wants to require individual workers at mortuaries to get licenses and meet certain requirements.
鈥淏usiness licensing is not enough. We need to be making sure employees are qualified to be working there,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ecause when they鈥檙e going through their certification, they鈥檒l learn about what you need to report to the state and what you need to be doing on a daily or monthly basis to keep your business compliant.鈥�
State regulators are also recommending changes. They want more resources to do periodic or regular inspections of mortuaries. They say they also want to start following up with businesses that don鈥檛 renew their licenses to make sure they鈥檝e stopped doing business.
I'd like to file a complaint against a funeral home. How do I do that?
O'Donnell said residents can expect a "pretty quick" turnaround time on a complaint.
"Obviously this a priority area, and we're making sure that we are using that investigative authority that was granted to us last year to make sure that the the public is safe in this process," she said.
