Note: The following are notes from the above book. I found the book seminal, eye-opening, life-changing. I recommend that you buy and read the entire book. Only by reading the entire book will you get the whole picture. The following quotes, I hope, will whet your appetite. --Colby Glass
|
Morticians are "merchants of a rather grubby order (13)... they have... perpetrate[d] a huge, macabre, and expensive practical joke on the American public (14)... "A new mythology... has been built up... to justify the peculiar customs surrounding the disposal of our dead (16)... Myth #1 -- "...today's funeral procedures are founded in "American tradition"... The most cursory look at American funerals of past times... Simplicity to the point of starkness, the plain pine box, the laying out of the dead by friends and family... Myth #2 -- "...the American public is only being given what it wants... Actually, choice doesn't enter the picture for average individuals faced, generally for the first time, with the necessity of buying a product of which they are totally ignorant, at a moment when they are least in a position to quibble (16)... "...a whole new terminology... has been invented by the funeral industry to replace the direct and serviceable vocabulary of former times. "Undertaker" has been supplanted by "funeral director"... Coffins are "caskets"; hearses are "coaches"... flowers are "floral tributes"; corpses are generally "loved ones," ... Euphemisms such as "slumber room," "reposing room," and "calcination--the kindlier heat" abound in the funeral business (17)... "The cost of the funeral is the third largest expenditure, after a house and a car, in the life of an ordinary American family (25)... "Popular ignorance about the law as it relates to the disposal of the dead is a factor... People are often astonished to learn that in no state is embalming required by law except in certain special circumstances, such as when the body is to be shipped by common carrier (26)... "...funeral men tend to invent the law as they go along (27)... "Cemeteries derive a substantial income from the sale of "vaults"... morticians will insist that the law requires one... "Then would you be willing to sign this?" (I had been writing on a sheet of paper, "California state law requires a vault for ground burial") "The Memorial Counselor gathered up his color photographs... and walked out of the house (28)... Coffins are not required for cremations (27-8)... "Alas, poor Yorick! How surprised he would be to see how his counterpart [corpse] of today is whisked off to a funeral parlor and is in short order sprayed, sliced, pierced, pickled, trussed, trimmed, creamed, waxed, painted, rouged and neatly dressed -- transformed from a common corpse into a Beautiful Memory Picture. This process is known in the trade as embalming and restorative art, and is so universally employed in the United States and Canada that for years the funeral director did it routinely, without consulting corpse or kin... Yet no law required embalming, no religious doctrine commends it, nor is it dictated by considerations of health, sanitation, or even of personal daintiness. In no part of the world but in North America is it widely used. The purpose of embalming is to make the corpse presentable for viewing in a suitably costly container (43)... "Embalming is not, as funeral providers habitually claim, a legal requirement (44)... "The family is not asked whether they want an open-casket ceremony; in the absence of instruction to the contrary, this is taken for granted... well over 68 percent of all American funerals... feature an open casket -- a custom unknown in other parts of the world. Foreigners are astonished by it (50).... "One might suppose -- and many people do -- that the whole point of embalming is the long-term preservation of the deceased. Actually, although phrases like "peace-of-mind protection" and "eternal preservation" crop up frequently in casket and vault advertising, the embalmers themselves know better... The simple truth is that a body can be preserved for a very long time indeed... The trouble is, they don't look very pretty; in fact they tend to resemble old shoe leather. "The more dilute the embalming fluid, the softer and more natural-appearing the guest of honor. Therefore, the usual procedure is to embalm with about enough preservative to ensure that the body will last through the funeral (54-5)... "The theory that embalming is an essential hygienic measure has long been advanced by the funeral industry... when embalmers get together to talk among themselves, they are more realistic... "Sanitation is probably the farthest thing from the mind of the modern embalmer. We must realize that the motives for embalming at the present time are economic and sentimental" (Dr. I.M. Feinberg in National Funeral Service Journal) (55-6)... "...Dr. Jesse Carr, chief of pathology at San Francisco General Hospital and professor of pathology at the University of California Medical School... To my question "Are undertakers, in their capacity of embalmers, guardians of the public health?" Dr. Carr's answer was short and to the point: "They are not guardians of anything except their pocketbooks. Public health virtues of embalming? You can write it off as inapplicable to our present-day conditions"... In the case of death from typhoid, cholera, plague, and other enteric infections, epidemics have been caused in the past by the spread of infection by rodents and seepage from graves into the city water supply. The old-time cemeteries and churchyards were particularly dangerous breeding grounds for these scourges. The solution, however, lies in city planning, engineering and sanitation, rather than in embalming, for the organisms which cause disease live in the organs, the blood, and the bowel, and cannot all be killed by the embalming process" (57). The body of a person who has died of a noncommunicable disease... presents no hazard whatsoever (57)... "An exhumed embalmed body is a repugnant, moldy, foul-looking object," said Dr. Carr... "You're a lot better off to be buried in an aerobic atmosphere; otherwise the putrefactive bacteria take over. In fact, you're really better off with a shroud, and no casket at all" (58-9)... From Dr. Kenneth V. Iserson. Death to Dust: What Happens to Dead Bodies? (Galen Press, 1994). "...a cover-up by the funeral industry... the public health risks associated with the disposal of human remains are minimal... Embalming serves no useful purpose in preventing the transmission of communicable disease" (63)... 1984 Federal Trade Commission funeral rules: "It is a deceptive act or practice for a funeral provider to:
THE CEMETERY -- "It is not hard as one might think to extract outrageous-sounding prices from the public, because pre-need payments are customarily made in painless installments... "Pre-need selling is a costly proposition, and it is the customer, of course, who ultimately foots the bill. The sales organization usually works on a 50 percent commission (87)... "In a typical sales argument, the idea of inflation is the first concern to plant in the prospect's mind (88)... It sounds good, but the "economy" is a myth... Even today, people who live in communities that have not yet been invaded by the commercial pre-needers can buy from municipal, denominational, or other noncommercial cemeteries burial space either in advance or when death occurs at a fraction of what they would have to pay a commercial solicitor (89)... [Ad says] "We must be buried in a duly approved cemetery" -- "Not true. In many states, bome burial is still permissable in rural areas; and in all states, cremated remains may be buried on private property. In every state except California, cremated remains may be scattered at will or with the landowner's permission (89)... Cemeteries are non-profit, tax exempt organizations meant to be inexpensive. Instead, they have become huge money generators. Similarly, cremation was conceived as a low-cost alternative. But greedy funeral directors have done everything possible to escalate the cost. Now "the goal is to sell a "traditional" funeral with all the trimmings as an adjunct to cremation" (115)... "Throughout the industry, cremation remains today the poor, ugly stepchild among the modes of final disposition. Existing state laws, regrettably, serve only to help the industry play havoc with the consumer's desire for a simple, cheap funeral (120)... A new development is for morticians to "require" identification viewing" prior to cremation, "to avoid any mix-ups." The title of one presentation, "How to add $1,400 or More to Each Cremation Call," reveals the larger motive for this tactic... "Another key to cremation success? "When families don't buy an urn, require them to purchase a temporary container to hold the cremains" (121-2)... "The practice of preserving bodies with chemicals, decorating them with paint and powder, and arranging them for a public showing" originates not from Judaeo-Christian tradition, but from pagan Egyptian tradition (142).. "The Jews frowned upon embalming, as did the early Christians, who regarded it as a pagan custom. Saint Anthony... denounce the practice as sinful (143)... "...embalming as a trade or cult was not resumed until this century (144)... Giant conglomerate SCI and the Loewen Group push high-end sales. "Low-end mortuaries are being acquired, in some cases to close them down and thereby reduce competition, more often to gouge low-end consumers (173)... They retail a cheap coffin for $1,995. The wholesale cost is $140. There are crematories that will do everything for $700. SCI and Loewen quote $2,745 to $3,985 for identical services (174)... 1975 FTC trade rules for funeral industry (176):
SCI is the giant (along with Loewen) in consolidation of the funeral industry (188). Although they practice economies of volume, they charge 60% more than independents (191). "The stockholder owners of the corporate consolidators have reason to be pleased by the reports of soaring profits. But what of their consumer victims? (195). They run into the same arm-twisting and truculence experienced by everyone dealing with huge corporations (195-205). The English attitude is moderation and common sense: no embalming, no make-up, only the immediate family at the funeral. Funerals are quick, quiet, and understated (208-9). "An open-casket funeral is almost unheard of [in England]... considered... absolutely wierd... [and] contrary to good taste (217)... MEMORIAL ASSOCIATIONS in the U.S. are often organized by Quakers or Unitarians... "for the family that prefers to hold a memorial service, without the body present, instead of the "open casket" funeral -- and to guarantee that the family will not have to endure a painful clash with the undertaker (145)... "... three choices confront the average citizen intent on making a simple, inexpensive exit from the world: (1) You must make strict arrangements in advance for an austere funeral, a plan which may be upset by your survivors; or (2) You must join a co-operative enterprise like the Bay Area Funeral Society; or (3) You must will your body to some institution. If you do none of these things... the final journey will probably be the most expensive ride you've ever taken" (245-6). [This was from a Post article, "Can You Afford To Die?" Letters in response to this article were overwheming, "evidence of a widespread public revulsion against modern funerary practices"(252). "The ultimate of all these programs is to give the entire body to medical science. With no body there is no funeral... no funeral directors" (253). 20/20 ran a TV show on the dismal trade. "Undercover and with hidden camera, she was able to provide television audiences with a clear look at some of the less-than-ethical practices of the funeral trade (255)... PRE-NEED "Today, the need to shelter assets for Medicaid eligibility is another reason people pay for their funeral in advance (256)... "...people tend to be more gullible when seated comfortably in their own living rooms... they will spend more (257)... "Inflation is the bugbear used [to sell pre-need]... disclaimer [often in contract]: "If the death benefits are less than the current retail price at the time of death, an additional amount of funds will be due"... you have saved no money with a pre-need arrangement... eliminates the chance that your nearest and dearest will be free to shop around for a better deal... "...a guaranteed-price plan... a situation that invites abuse (258) such as charging for extras at the time of the funeral. "...Neptune, numero unno in the for-profit cremation business... salespeople explained that the law requires a casket (cost: $400), while in practice bodies are cremated in a shroud. This avid seller, likewise explained that an urn is required by law (cost: $75), whereas a $2 cardboard box is used (259-260)... "AARP... monitoring the problems of prepaid funerals...[They say] "Buyer beware!" (265)... "Anyone who has paid for a funeral--or is thinking about it--should ask, "Where is the money invested and is it safe?"... Few states require that all prepayments be placed in trust. Fewer still do any auditing (266)... "Insurance-funded preneed arrangments are the fastest growing preneed product on the market... But the low rate of growth on the policy--estimated at 3.63 percent--doesn't match overall funeral inflation... survivors may be hit with additional costs (267)... "Master trusts set up by mortitians' associations exist in thirty-two states" (267). They all charge high administrative fees. "A pay-on-death trust account at your local bank will give you the most control and flexibility. Sometimes called a "Totten Trust," it can be moved easily if you do... name yourself or a close friend or next of kin--not the mortuary--as the beneficiary (268)... "In most cases, chielding assets in order to qualify for government benefits is the only sound reason for paying for a funeral in advance. The only way to do that is with an irrevocable trust. But keep in mind that... you will be responsible for declaring the interest income [and paying taxes, even though the funeral home gets the interest until you die] (269)... NEW HOPE Funeral and Memorial Societies of America (FAMSA)... "Unitarians, Quakers, eggheads... "We are the only national group monitoring the funeral industry" (270). www.funeral.org/famsa has since disappeared. Now see Funeral Consumers Alliance. San Antonio Memorial Society, 210-341-2213... see Funeral Consumers Alliance of San Antonio.
|