HW#55: Culminating Project - Care of the Dead

After watching the film, “A Family Undertaking” I became interested in the idea of a home funeral. However, the film mentioned New York as a state that does not allow home funerals. To make sure, I looked it up: “In all, there are only six states that demand a funeral director be involved in the burial process: Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska and New York. Each of these states has laws on the books that require a licensed funeral director be involved in the handling of human remains.” (Green Funerals & Burials-Home Funerals) I found it really ironic that there are laws restricting the deceased to be taken care of by their loved ones who have raised them and brought them up since the day they were born. I decided to look up laws and regulations on home funerals in New York State to see the limitations on what can be done to people after death.

I started by looking at a report on the health care industry which has a small section on New York. Most of the information there only talked about inspections on funerals and facts I found uninteresting. The only relevant information was this, “Requires all funeral homes (also called “funeral firms”) to register with the State, whereas funeral directors are required to hold a license to operate in the state and this license also authorizes them to perform embalming.” (United States General Accounting Office) So does this mean there are cases where home funerals are allowed?

After looking through a few websites, I found something that finally caught my attention: “The Funeral Consumers Alliance of L.I. /NYC has arranged with a local funeral home to offer a Home Funeral plan that complies with New York State law. The options range from simply having the viewing or visitation at home with the funeral director transporting and preparing the body to having the family completely care for the body except for the funeral director obtaining the authorizations required by law and arranging for a funeral director to be present at the final point of disposition.” (Have you considered a Home Funeral?) I decided to look more into this organization’s funeral plans.

I found some hopeful information on their home funeral section. Though New York State does restrict families to care for their own dead close ones, it is not impossible. Their website mentioned that as long as there is a funeral director who signs the death certificate and other necessary forms, and be there at the ‘final point of disposition’ families can still care for the dead body. I e-mailed them to confirm, and received a reply from the co-president of the organization with the following:
"Hi Megumi
New York does allow home funerals, but it is necessary to hire a funeral director for certain purposes. Go to our web site www.NYfunerals.org and download the pamphlet, Home Funerals in New York. I think that it will be helpful to you."
The phamplet on their website mentioned requirements of having a funeral director involved in the process, but it is fine to let families be the ones to care for the body before the body is taken to get buried or cremated.

It was a bit frustrating attempting to research anything further. I wanted to know the restriction in New York State in more detail but most websites mentioned the growing idea of home funerals in general. It seems that there are some ways to do something like a home funeral in the state, but a funeral director just has to be there to either watch over or transport the body. In the states restricting the rights of families to care for the dead of their loved ones, there seems to be this ‘I have to supervise’ attitude according to the Funeral Consumers Alliance. This made me think back on the interview I called for with a funeral director who had negative feelings toward home funerals. The ‘traditional’ way to care for the dead only happened within a few years. It was normal before for families to care for the dead bodies of their loved ones-why is there now a need to hand over the body to strangers? What do they know about the person who died? They are just doing their job, and there’s nothing personal about that.

It’s a bit reassuring though, that there are ways to get around the restrictions of home funerals in the state. It just does not make sense to me why there’s a whole process to deal with a funeral director. It is as if families are not trusted to care for their loved ones. This made me think more about having home funerals. Death isn’t something to look forward to, but just because it upsets us does not mean we should avert our eyes from reality and turn to strangers to carry out the whole process.

Citations:
*"Green Funerals & Burials - Home Funerals." Funeral Wise. FuneralWise, 2010. Web. 16 May 2011.
*"Have you ever Considered a Home Funeral?." nyfunerals.org. Funeral Consumers Alliance of L.I/NYC, 11 Feb 2008. Web. 16 May 2011.
*Hoffman, Elvira. Message to co-President, FCA of L.I./NYC. 16 May 2011. E-mail.
*Nelligan, Jeff. United States. Death Care Regulation Varies across States and by Industry Segment. The General Accounting Office, 2003. Web. 16 May 2011.
*Slocum, Joshua . "Caring For Your Own Dead: Myths and Facts ." Funeral Consumers Alliance. Funeral Consumers Alliance, 30 Jan 2009. Web. 16 May 2011.