TOPSFIELD, MASS. (WHDH) - For a Topsfield family, grieving the loss of their son was worsened by a series of devastating discoveries: their loved one was buried without his brain after an unexpected autopsy.
Kevin Magee died Oct. 27, 2023 after battling a traumatic brain injury and other health impacts from a life-altering car crash 30 years prior in 1993 when he was 17-years-old.
In the days after Kevin’s death, his mother, Gail Magee, was making arrangements for her late son when she learned that his remains were not at the funeral home. Rather, the medical examiner had picked up the remains for an autopsy that was ordered.
By the time Gail Magee heard the news from the funeral home director, the autopsy was already done.
“I don’t know why they did not call me. They had my name, they had my phone number, we are Kevin’s legal guardians,” she said.
In Massachusetts, the state does not need consent to conduct an autopsy. Gail Magee said she was confused why they did one on her son at all since his accident was 30 years before his death.
“I just felt like for 30 years that he just suffered for so much and then finally when he goes, just let him rest in peace. I could understand if they found him on the side of the road there is a reason to do an autopsy. There was no reason to do an autopsy on Kevin,” Magee said.
She believes misinformation and lack of communication led to the autopsy. The Massachusetts’ Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) declined to comment on the autopsy or who ordered it.
Months later Gail Magee received another surprise.
At the end of January 2024 she received the results of the autopsy. Her medical background as a registered nurse led her to ask the medical examiner if all of Kevin’s body parts were returned, specifically his brain. That’s when, months after he had been buried, Gail was told that her son’s brain was still at the medical examiner’s office.
“They butchered him. He couldn’t even rest in peace after 30 years. And his brain, which is the whole soul of your being, to slice it up and to think it was sitting in a jar at the medical examiner’s office, and I wouldn’t have even known about it,” she expressed.
Gail Magee said she was told that Kevin’s brain was kept back for additional testing.
“If they keep your loved one’s, especially your child’s, body parts, they should be calling you to tell you that,” said Magee. “It’s just unfathomable. It’s unbelievable that they would do this and it’s just wrong that they conduct business like that.”
While consent is not needed for the state to conduct an autopsy, the medical examiner’s office does need to inform the person receiving the body if any organs are retained. This information is provided in a letter that the state issues to the funeral home that is handling the services. The funeral home then passes the letter along to family members.
“It’s very vague. We are the pass off person. Frequently that will be given to the family whether they are reading it, absorbing it at that time is not necessarily our responsibility,” said funeral home owner Barbra Kazmierczak. “It’s a difficult time when they are getting that letter and there is a lot going on in their heads and a letter from the OCME is probably not their priority.”
This letter was provided to the funeral home handling Kevin’s service.
7 Investigates received a copy of that letter. The letter is not personalized with individual details for families, nor are the specifics of what, if any, biological samples were retained outlined.
The letter reads, “a full internal examination (autopsy) may be required” and “the doctor may take and retain biological samples.” The letter goes on to state that materials are “disposed of after a matter of time” but families can request the items be released.
“I think communication is limited for whatever the reason and I think there needs to be more open lines of communication,” Kazmierczak said of OCME. “A letter covers you but doesn’t always get read and interpreted correctly.”
Gail Magee believes due to the vague communication from the state that she never would have known her son’s brain was held back if she didn’t ask.
“I don’t think most people have a clue that that is happening,” she said.
7 Investigates found the state has removed and retained 685 brains between 2021-2024. Of those, 15 have been released back to families.
“I think it’s a major breach. I think most people would as well if you are talking about their heart or their brain,” said George Annas, the director of the Center for Health Law, Ethics and Human Rights at Boston University. “It shouldn’t happen. There is no reason it should happen.”
Annas said the letter given to Massachusetts families is not transparent enough and that it puts an unreasonable burden on grieving families to discover specifics.
“A letter is not enough,” he said. “It shouldn’t be something else that families have to make sure that all parts of their loved one’s bodies are returned by the medical examiner.”
The Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Officer said in a statement that it cannot comment on specific cases, but that it is committed to “providing the highest level of forensic pathology and death investigation services, including ensuring the effective and efficient communication of vital information through the established protocols and procedures.”
Annas proposes that improvements to communication from OCME could include the office taking the time to send the families an individualized email or phone call.
“It should be the medical examiner’s job to make sure the family knows what is going on,” said Annas. “That I don’t think is too much to ask.”
The Magees were able to get Kevin’s brain back and bury it at his gravesite but they are still looking for changes.
“I just want accountability. I want to know that they’ve made some changes so this doesn’t happen to other people. They just have to be more transparent with their practices and their policies,” Gail Magee said.
For the Magee family, change won’t erase the trauma they faced while grieving Kevin’s passing – a child who loved to play hockey, always active with a smile on his face – but Gail believes changes to the system could save a future family more heartbreak.
“It’s not going to bring me comfort, it’s not going to change what happened, but I just feel like the public needs to know so maybe they can ask questions and know this goes on, and it might help someone else not have the same agony that we have been going through,” said Magee.
The Magees encourage people whose family member undergoes an autopsy to ask questions of the medical examiner, including why the autopsy was conducted, if anything was taken and what will be done with it.
7 New’s Maren Halpin contributed to this report.
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