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Some commonly asked questions about death decisions, purchases and customs
Monday, May 24, 1999 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Q: Where's the best place to buy caskets, burial vaults, monuments and other merchandise?
A: Considering the number of choices in who sells such products, it might save time and energy to work with one entity -- most likely a funeral home or cemetery -- serving as a general contractor, of sorts, selling or arranging all such products. However, dealing individually with monument dealers, retail casket stores or other providers could save money or result in more craftsmanship. What you choose depends on consumer preference.
Q: What's better, a metal or wooden casket?
A: Again, personal preference dictates. Steel and other metals remain the dominant seller, especially in the Pittsburgh area, but woods have been on the increase in recent years and often are considered more attractive. Generally, there are more selections of metal caskets available in lower price ranges. Many metal caskets include a sealing mechanism, which is unavailable on wood models, but people within and outside the casket industry look askance at claims that the seal provides the body long-term protection from the elements.
Q: What's the difference between being buried in a mausoleum crypt or in the ground?
A: Usually, mausoleum burial is more expensive unless you pick one of the least preferred units, such as those at the very top of a wall. Some cemeteries say mausoleum burial is becoming more popular, however, as people associate it with the more refined, aristocratic disposition that led to stylish, private mausoleums in the past. You don't need to purchase a burial vault for a mausoleum crypt, which usually holds two caskets, but the basic fees can be high because the supply of units is limited and the cemetery needs to make up for the capital costs of construction.
Q: If someone is cremated, should their ashes be scattered, buried or stored someplace?
A: The funeral and cemetery industries suggest it's important that survivors have some permanent memorial -- a grave marker or burial garden or mausoleum urn niche or other option -- they can visit and use to pay tribute to the deceased for years afterward. Some consumer advocates and grief therapists dismiss that notion, arguing that the manner of grief and tributes should be highly personal in each case, and people can remember someone through visiting a site where ashes have been scattered or by retaining keepsakes.
Q: Is embalming required by law?
A: No. State law requires that bodies stored in a funeral home longer than 24 hours should either be embalmed, refrigerated or put in a specially sealed container. Funeral directors have made embalming the common practice among those by pointing out its ability to help restore lifelike appearance to the deceased in order to have an open-casket visitation. Jewish funeral homes are often the only ones in an area with refrigeration units, because open caskets and embalming are rare in that population.
Q: What are some other death customs or practices specific to religious or ethnic groups?
A: The Greek Orthodox, Muslim and Orthodox Jewish religions are among those that prohibit cremation, a restriction that the Catholic church dropped in the 1960s, whereas it is used by virtually 100 percent of the Hindu population. Black funeral directors say their customers tend to choose more elaborate ceremonies in relation to their income than whites, while Orthodox Jews go to the opposite extreme, prescribing that everyone should be buried in plain pine boxes so as to be equal in death. The Jewish population also seeks a quick burial, within 24 hours if possible.
Q: Why aren't cemeteries required to make the same price disclosures as funeral homes?
A: When the federal government adopted the Funeral Rule in the 1980s, it was in response to consumer complaints about price abuses by funeral homes. Now that so many cemeteries and specialty retail stores are selling caskets and similar merchandise, groups are pressing the Federal Trade Commission to expand requirements to them as part of its review of the rule this year. In addition, the U.S. General Accounting Office is conducting the government's first major review of the pre-need industry, with a report examining the need for new regulations expected in the fall.
Q: What if a family has no resources for funeral or burial?
A: The Department of Public Welfare since 1973 has provided the same $350 in state assistance for funeral and burial expenses, a benefit claimed by several hundred welfare recipients a year. Because that only goes a small way toward the cost of various services, poor families negotiate arrangements as best they can with funeral homes and cemeteries and obtain help from friends and relatives.
Q: What happens to bodies that nobody claims?
A: The Allegheny County coroner's office holds bodies for 30 to 45 days before disposing of them if no next of kin can be traced. The county pays a local funeral home $120 each time to cremate the two or three bodies a month that fall into that category.
Q: What if you want to ignore dealing with a funeral and burial entirely and just donate your body to medicine for research?
A: Call the Pennsylvania Human Gifts Registry, based in Philadelphia, at 215-922-4440. It contracts with a local funeral home to transport bodies to the University of Pittsburgh Medical School for educational purposes. A transportation fee and other charges adding up to about $150 are still usually required of families making the donation. About 125 deaths a year locally end in this manner.
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