newstart90
Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Minnesota
My husband had a living will, appointing me as primary Health Care Agent, and his sister as alternate Health Care Agent.
In his living will, he stated that he wished to have his body donated to the Mayo as an anatomical gift. He also initialed statements ( in the form) giving us the right to decide what to do with his remains.
He passed away 4 months ago, and we tried to donate his remains. The nurse at the hospital called the Anatomical Gift Dept. of the Mayo, and I talked to them. This was about 30 min. after his death....He said that my husband would have had to sign a release, specifically donating his remains, and that they could not accept my signature. They would not accept his remains.
We had to call a funeral home and we had him cremated.
I explained this to his children ( my stepkids) and now his daughter has filed a criminal complaint alleging ( among other things) that I did not follow her Father's last wishes about donating his body.
My question is this...if she is angling to make a case that I did not follow her Father's wishes on purpose ( she is spiteful), could a judge find against me ?
Isn't the wife allowed to use her own judgement about these things? I have to send a copy of his Living Will to the County Sheriff and I hope that he does investigate, and he will find my statement to be true.
Could the judge use our ignorance about the fact that HE had to sign as proof that I was willfully ignoring her Dad's wishes??? I had no idea and we were busy trying to keep him alive.
My husband had a living will, appointing me as primary Health Care Agent, and his sister as alternate Health Care Agent.
In his living will, he stated that he wished to have his body donated to the Mayo as an anatomical gift. He also initialed statements ( in the form) giving us the right to decide what to do with his remains.
He passed away 4 months ago, and we tried to donate his remains. The nurse at the hospital called the Anatomical Gift Dept. of the Mayo, and I talked to them. This was about 30 min. after his death....He said that my husband would have had to sign a release, specifically donating his remains, and that they could not accept my signature. They would not accept his remains.
We had to call a funeral home and we had him cremated.
I explained this to his children ( my stepkids) and now his daughter has filed a criminal complaint alleging ( among other things) that I did not follow her Father's last wishes about donating his body.
My question is this...if she is angling to make a case that I did not follow her Father's wishes on purpose ( she is spiteful), could a judge find against me ?
Isn't the wife allowed to use her own judgement about these things? I have to send a copy of his Living Will to the County Sheriff and I hope that he does investigate, and he will find my statement to be true.
Could the judge use our ignorance about the fact that HE had to sign as proof that I was willfully ignoring her Dad's wishes??? I had no idea and we were busy trying to keep him alive.