Comedian Elayne Boosler said a Brooklyn nursing home did not notify relatives of her 83-year-old cousin’s death and buried the remains in a Catholic cemetery rather than her Jewish family plot.
Boosler said that a relative had attempted to get in touch last month with Dorothea Buschell, who was staying at the Hamilton Park Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn.
After weeks of failed calls, the relative was allegedly told by the nursing home that Buschell had died, The City reported. Boosler said that she then found out where her cousin had been buried and that the nursing home was asking for $15,000 to cover the cost of the burial.
Boosler, a veteran stand-up, also has appeared on such TV comedies as “The Cosby Show” and “Crazy Ex Girlfriend,” and helped inspire the character of Elaine Benes on “Seinfeld.”
“That’s right folks, they buried my Jewish cousin … IN A CATHOLIC CEMETERY HOLDING A ROSARY,” Boosler wrote in a public Facebook post.
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The confusion may have stemmed from the fact that in 2017, Buschell bought a funeral plan, which was signed by someone working for New York Guardianship Services, according to The City. But Boosler said that she had let the nursing home know of a family plot in a Jewish cemetery the following year.
A case manager at New York Guardianship Services told Boosler’s cousin Harriet Saltzman that the nursing home had “wrongfully informed us that Ms. Buschell had no family and neglected to inform us of her Jewish faith on the date of her death,” The City reported.
An attorney representing the company that owns the nursing home told The City that he could not comment on any resident due to “privacy reasons.”
Boosler said that she would hire an attorney if the funeral home did not cancel the bill and move her cousin to her family plot.
UPDATE on my cousin Signorina Dorothea Mezza Porzione. Peeps, are you sitting down? After 3 weeks of calling, assisted living finally told us she died on April 15th, though she died on April 13th & they didn't tell us. She had a burial plot (Jewish) next to her mother, sister & dad, which I myself reaffirmed was still in her record when I visited her August 2018. I also reaffirmed my contact info. Unbeknownst to us, the home had assigned a "guardian" to her, who filled out an IRREVOCABLE "pre-need" funeral plan for her dated 2017, illegibly signed by a "David something" (no line saying "print name" after illegible signature). Can you say "scam"? Not only was it for $16,000 of her money, she didn't sign it (& probably never saw it). I stood there as they looked in her file & double checked the funeral plot info I brought, probably looking right at this document, & they didn't say a word. She was only there for physical help, she was mentally 100%. Upshot: She dies. The funeral home takes her. Buries her a day later, yet here are the CHARGES they took out of her bank account. Remember, this is Covid-19; no funerals, services or gatherings. City mandates double bagging of body AND casket then burial. Plus we didn't know she died, so nobody was there!! NOBODY!!!:
Body pickup $795. Embalming $795. Custodial care $580. Dressing $295. Clothing $400. Makeup $95. Use of facilities for visitation $300. Visitation Supervision $300. Funeral Service Supervision $420. Use of facilities for funeral service $645. Funeral director $1295. Flowers $600. Memorial Cards $200. Acknowledgement Cards $200. Prayer Cards $250. Hearse $535. Limousine $595 (are you hysterical yet? Wait!) Casket $5000. Cemetary $900. Bridge & Road Tolls $34. Transit Permit $46.75.
AND THE GREATEST PUNCHLINE OF ALL TIME:
CLERGY $500. GRATUITIES $60. CROSS AND ROSARY BEADS $200. That's right folks, they buried my Jewish cousin, who never wore makeup & never spent more than $25 on an outfit, who always tipped 20% and would have known to take Queensboro Bridge to avoid tolls, IN A CATHOLIC CEMETERY HOLDING A ROSARY, WITH A $16,000 FAKE FUNERAL THAT NEVER HAPPENED. Every great punchline has a great tag: The funeral home now wants us to pay $10,000 to transfer Dorothea to her actual plot next to her family. I told them only if we got to keep the rosary...
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