Covenant CrematoryCovenant Crematory has paid a $1,500 fine for cremating a dead body without proper documentation and for placing an identification device on an urn before placing the cremated remains in the urn.
The Chattanooga crematory agreed to pay the penalty and entered into a consent order in January with the Tennessee Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers “to avoid formal charges and a contested case” arising from complaints about the way the crematory handled some cremated remains. A state inspection of the Covenant Crematory on Bonny Oaks Drive in August 2014 found that the business has used a cremation authorization form for one decedent that had not been approved by the state and did not have a funeral director’s signature. The probe also found that one decedent was cremated without the authorizing agent’s required signature and two decedents were cremated without a permanent identification device.
“(Covenant) did not properly maintain its crematory log…and did not respond to the complaint,” the state agency said in 7-page order issued Jan. 26.