A British Columbia woman is suing a Port Coquitlam funeral home for failing to properly care for the body of her deceased 91-year-old father.

The plaintiff, Nooshin Mozafar, claims in her lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court, that the wrong body was transferred to a mosque for cleaning and wrapping, according to Muslim rituals, in preparation for burial, according to a recent story in the Tri-City News.

Mozafar claims when she went to the mosque to view her father’s body, she was shocked to find the wrong person had been delivered.

“Upon unwrapping the body, it became abundantly clear to the Plaintiff that the body was not that of the deceased,” the lawsuit claims.

Despite her objections that it wasn’t her father, Mozafar claims in her lawsuit that she was “repeatedly told” that she was mistaken and it was her deceased father, who had died in Lions Gate Hospital on Nov. 4, 2021.

Mozafar was eventually allowed examine the body to show that it wasn’t her father “through identification of specific body parts,” which convinced the mosque that the wrong body had been delivered.

She is suing Vancouver Coastal Health, Heath Transfer Services Inc. and the family-owned Oliveira Funeral Home in Port Coquitlam for failing to properly care for the body of her deceased father.

Oliveira Funeral Home had contracted Heath Transfer to transport the body to the mosque, according to the legal action, and Vancouver Coastal Health was responsible for releasing the body to Heath Transfer to be transported to the mosque.

The lawsuit says Heath Transfer and Oliveira eventually “accepted” that there had been a mixup with the deceased’s body and “advised that they would search for it,” the lawsuit says.

The deceased was eventually located after an “exhaustive search” and was buried at Capilano View Cemetery on Nov. 10, 2021.

Mozafar says in her lawsuit that she had been very close to her father and had cared for him until he died in hospital.

No explanation was ever provided to her as to how the mistake was made, which caused her further emotional distress, she claims, adding she suffered nervous shock, post-traumatic stress disorder and other emotional injuries.

The lawsuit claims the defendants were negligent in failing to confirm the identity of the deceased and keep track of the body, and that the defendants were mistaken when they said Mozafar did not recognize her father after he had died.

The defendants “owed a duty of care to the plaintiff to exercise all reasonable care, skill, diligence and competence in the handling and transportation of the deceased,” the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit seeks general damages for pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, special damages, an award for future care expenses, costs and interest.

The claims in the lawsuit have not been proven in court. The defendants will file statements of defence to answer the claims of the legal action.