Thursday, November 25, 2010

Preneed Funerals : Scandals and Fraud

       
          With the National Prearranged Services (NPS) scandal making headlines over the past few days, I thought it would be an appropriate time to cover. The latest scandal involves a 50-count indictment handed down for several of NPS's top brass. They are accused of embezzlement to the tune of $600 million from the funds paid to them by consumers for preplanned funerals. This is not the first scandal of its kind and I feel safe in assuming it will not be the last. While NPS is located in Missouri, similar scandals have taken place in Illinois, California, Louisiana and other states. It has not only been the preneed companies charged, but funeral homes and funeral directors as well. Unfortunately, preneed companies like NPS not only affect consumers in Missouri, but in the many other states and funeral homes that offer their contracts to consumers.

          My first introduction to NPS came about in my first job as a funeral director. It was a small town, independent funeral home in Texas. A new regional sales manager with NPS stopped by and, along with the funeral home owner, announced that I would be getting my license to sell preneed policies to families. To become licensed, there is a test involved. However, the sales manager and the owner advised me of "the best part." The sales manager handed me a copy of the answer key and the test.

          I took the test and answer key, advising them that I would work on it later, as I had a couple of families to follow-up with. Fortunately, the owner forgot about it and I became more interested in selling cemetery monuments. I left the preneed funeral sales to one of the other employees. Here's the irony. After the NPS  manager stopped by, another funeral director said, "That guy looks familiar, but he is from out-of-town and I just can't place it. Where could I have seen him?" Another funeral director, a female, replied, " Maybe in a mugshot somewhere." 

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

The Embalming Room : No Laughing Matter Part I


          I remember my first job at a funeral home. It was a student position, as I was also attending mortuary college. It was one of the city's older funeral homes and part of a group that was once family-owned. By the time I went to work at the funeral home, it had been purchased by a corporation. However, given the small staff, it still had that "family feel" to it.

          As a student, my job consisted of a number of duties that varied each day. There were always death certificates to type, flowers to set-up in the visitation rooms or deliver to churchs or grave sites, phones to answer, folders to make and bodies to help dress and place in their casket. On the embalming room door, there was a sign left over from the days of family ownership. It read, "Behind these doors rests the most important responsibility we have. Someone has entrusted us with the care of their loved one."

          Many years later, I returned to that funeral home. There was a new owner, as the smaller corporation had been taken over by a much larger one. The much larger one was, by this time, my new employer. Upon entering the back hallways, I noticed that sign. It had survived the transition and caused me to stop for a moment and reflect. It was in that moment of reflection where I realized what a powerful impact the sign had made during my career. It was the constant reminder of taking care of somebody's mother, father, wife, husband, daughter, son, grandmother or other.

          It was the words of that sign that brought a sickening over me the day I visited one embalming center. The corporation I now worked for had developed what they called central care centers. This refers to one building, a centralized embalming facility, containing a very large room designed with tables where all aspects of the embalming process are performed. Most families are not aware of this whenever they make arrangements at certain funeral homes. They are still under the impression that their loved one is actually at the funeral home.

          I had made arrangements with a family for a gentleman who weighed 550 lbs. Because of his size, the manager of the care center suggested that I deliver the clothes to him and his staff would dress the man. The facility is equipped with specialized equipment and lifts to help in these cases. I decided to hand-deliver the clothing and stay during the dressing in case extra help was needed. What I witnessed next was appalling. The care center staff rolled the gentleman into a dressing area and he had been uncovered, meaning he had been stored completely naked on a table. The staff was laughing and making jokes the entire time they were dressing him, including the manager. As a non-manager myself, there was little that I could do except feel badly for the deceased.

          It has been many years since that incident and not a day goes by that I don't remember. It makes me worry about anyone I cherish being taken to a funeral home.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Embalming Shortcuts : Cats On The Coffin

          Throughout my career in the funeral industry, I was always amazed by some of the practices that were so generally accepted, especially in the embalming room. I have always been an advocate for saving money and being thrifty, especially when it comes to business expenses. However, for some funeral home owners, that idea is taken too far sometimes.

          I remember a couple of my first embalming cases, where the deceased had undergone an autopsy. For the uninitiated, a full and complete autopsy includes the medical examiner removing all internal organs for inspection. Once the autopsy is completed, the medical examiner's office places the internal organs (viscera) in a plastic bag, places the bag into the upper cavity of the body and closes the Y-incision with a few far-spaced ligatures.

          Once the body is back at the funeral home, the ligatures are removed, the Y-incision is opened and the viscera bag is removed. The embalmer will treat the internal organs with some type of embalming chemicals. The proper way is to soak the internal organs in a high-index, concentrated cavity solution. Many firms slice the organs into smaller sections to allow for better absorption, while others choose not to. Once the organs have had time to soak, the cavity fluid is drained and one of two methods are used. The viscera is returned to the body cavity, either in the original bag or without. I always preferred not using the bag method, to decrease the chances of fluid leaking. Returning the organs to the body cavity, combined with using a generous amount of embalming powder, provides the best possible results.

          Embalming powder can become expensive, but is well worth the price for proper results. However,  there are a number of funeral home owners, managers and funeral directors who have developed cost-saving methods that are disturbing. One that I found particularly troublesome was the use of cat litter instead of embalming powder. Sure, cat litter is designed to be absorbent, yet it offers nothing in terms of preservation. And, families that choose embalming are paying for embalming -- not cat litter. Once I learned of the litter method, I often imagined walking into a funeral home and finding cats gathered around a casket.

   

Saturday, November 6, 2010

A Welcome Message

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          Welcome to The Business of Death, a revealing look from beneath the veil of silence. The purpose of this blog is to bring truth to funeral consumers, which is often masked by an industry driven by profits. What makes this site different? The creator is a licensed funeral director & embalmer who, after many years in the profession, became disenchanted with many of the tactics and unethical practices of the industry.

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