The Column

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Recession means cutting corners on burials

It could be somehing as mainstream as cremation or as out-there as -- well, clearing out some space in the fridge -- but in these recessionary times folks are cutting corners for that Last Big Blowout.

Others are leaving the bodies of loved (?) ones unclaimed, leaving counties or states to pay for burial.


"People were picking the bodies up last year," says Albert Samuels, chief investigator at the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office in Michigan, which includes Detroit. "Across the board, I'm finding the numbers are on the rise of either families who are not coming forward to claim bodies or they're signing releases saying they can't afford to bury someone, which taxes the county resources because then the county is responsible for burying these people."

I don't care. Just leave me at curbside. The city will pick me up the following Tuesday.

(Photo: A funeral director holds a cremation urn in the showroom of his funeral parlor in New York City. Chris Hondros / Getty)




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