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…