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23h

District Attorney Secures Indictments for Manslaughter in Assisted Suicide Case

This is the beginning of a lot of coverage about medical aid in dying because (ias with any law) a lot of times it's not clear that there are problems with it until they try their first case. What's interesting about this is, in the press release they describe how the woman perf

/deathcare

Oh good. Another AI solution for Deathcare

I'm really, really, uncomfortable with letting AI run a funeral home. The training aspect, though, is something worth thinking about.

/deathcare

Funeral homes increasingly converted to housing

As funeral operations change, a lot of times the real estate is worth so much more than the building that it makes more sense to close and sell to developers.

/deathcare

The Cuban Hearse Crisis

This is from a site called “#Cibercuba” which regularly runs stories about hearse issues. It feels very Cold War propaganda-y. Like, “The Communists Don’t Respect the Dead” or something.

/lifestyle

Atlanta's Unique Hearse Bookstore, The Grim Reader, Is Opening A Brick-And-Mortar Book Store On Friday The 13th Of March

This looks fun.

/deathcare

North Adams Cemetery Commission Supports Green Burials

It's almost like municipal cemeteries are mor worried about serving local families than selling vaults...

/deathcare

Brooklyn cemetery plans human composting option, stirring interest and debate - CBS New York

It is absolutely fascinating that they didn't (or couldn't) make a deal with a U.S. company,

/deathcare

State orders Southern Colorado funeral home to shut down

File this under "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished." The funeral home had essentially stopped using its facilities for body preparation, but left it open because the coroner's office was renting the refrigeration space. Since the county was the only one using it, the funeral home let

/deathcare

Utah Bill Would Legalize Human Composting

This could be a watershed year for natural orgainc reduction.

/deathcare

Ontario's 'troubling' surge in unclaimed bodies is not letting up

I think it's fascinating about the fetal remains, and would love to know more about that. I wonder what deliniates fetal remains? Like, is it three months? Six? Any lost or terminated pregnancy at all? Similarly, I'd love to see the statistics over time (there's a link to the fu

/deathcare

A Philly startup's 'funeral registry' service aims to help families with end-of-life expenses

There are SO many startups aimed at getting people to preplan/fund funerals. The preplanning is the only thing that sets them apart from "GoFundme." I always feel like this energy could be better directed.

/deathcare

What if it wasn't just pets he didn't cremate?

Last week there was a report of a pet crematory owner, 70-year-old Patrick Vereb who was accused of giving fake remains to pet owners. He was also a funeral director for humans, which is starting to worry people who used his funeral home to creamate their loved ones.

/deathcare

Another Municipal Cemetery Looks to Go Green

This is pretty cool. Increasingly, municipal cemeteries are going with green burial as a way of appealing to people as well as of reducing the cost for residents.

/deathcare

11d

Winter weather causes casket transport challenges for Michigan funeral homes

Delayed flights and other logistics issues are nothing new, but it's been a rough week for shipping bodies, and it's not likely to get easier this week.

/deathcare

11d

How funeral homes dealt with the snowstorm and its aftermath | wnep.com

This is the kind of service in a time of need that a family will remember for generations. From the story: "Splain says their snow removal service also helps the team when they have to go out to homes to do a removal of a loved one. He says they will lead the crew out there and p

/deathcare

13d

Local pet crematory shuts down due to corporate competition | Surge 105

It's common for funeral homes to sell to corporate concerns, and occasionally they close, but this is the first I've heard of corporate pet crematories out-competing a locally owned facility.

/deathcare

14d

‘Human composting’ bill draws bipartisan support in New Hampshire • New Hampshire Bulletin

Although this is legal in lots of states, it isn't possible for a long time after legalization because the process is complex and (often) proprietary. The upside is that it gets people talking about final disposition in a way that nothing else does.

/deathcare

16d

Former funeral home director accused of pet cremation fraud headed to trial - CBS Pittsburgh

Certainly there must be more to it than this, but this story seems to imply that they're worried this guy will walk because technically there's no "wrong" way to dispose of dead animals in Pennsylvania. That' can't be quite right, can it?

/deathcare

20d

Brent Taylor's funeral home in cutting ties with the Tennessee senator: You're dead to me

Seriously, though. How egregious are your views when your old funeral home takes down your name for fear of losing business. Usually, they keep the name to keep community business. .

/deathcare

20d

Funeral home president 'immediately removed' by judge as executor of client's will, records show - ABC13 Houston

This is bananas. Unique Green has been under accusation, suspicion, and even indictment but her funeral director license remained in good standing. Funerals in Texas are broken.

/deathcare

22d

Funeral director rushes into burning building to save remains | FOX 5 Atlanta

This is the second story like this in as many months. It's fascinating and heartening to see funeral directors so concerned with rescuing dead bodies. From the story: "There is no way in the world that I would have allowed that building to burn down with anyone’s loved one insi

/offbeat

22d

Man dies after fall from flyover onto A38 | cornish-times.co.uk

So, "flyover" in the US. is a miltary term associated with airshows and honorgards (and, you know, warfare). In the UK it's the word for "overpass." The headline made me think this guy fell out of a plane during an airshow. Wierder, it followed a headline saying the Blue Angels (

/deathcare

24d

The crying game: what Hamnet’s grief-porn debate says about women, cinema – and enormous hawks | Movies | The Guardian

First, don't bother Googling "Grief-Porn" (or do, but it's not related to this idea). I love this notion as a way of talking about whether a movie is being manipulitive or constructive. This review provides some inights but in the end, it doesn't do much better than the Supreme C

/deathcare

25d

Stephen Colbert shouts out Bucks County funeral home game night

How's this for earned media? A funeral director (who also is a boardgame enthusiast) hosts a local gameshop's boardgame night. It got a Late Night plug. I like how this story reports the number of attendees and maybes listed on the gameshop's Facebook page.Whenever you can get pe

/deathcare

26d

Funeral director verbally abused by man who had loose horses in Laois cemetery - Laois Live

Two Irishmen fighting over whether horses were allowed in the cemetery is one of the most Irish stories I've heard in a while.

/deathcare

26d

ACLU-DE Settles Federal Lawsuit Challenging Religious Discrimination Against Muslim Burial Practices - ACLU of Delaware

States without dual licensures struggle to balance the embalming requirement with the fact that hardly anyone wants to be embalmed anymore. What makes this strange is that Delaware isn't the only state, just the only state to be sued.

/offbeat

Dec 7th

Tiny Tim sign returns to Canton after 30 years, spreading holiday cheer

The funeral home owner said he wanted to put this up so people could reflect on the message. Fine, I guess, but I wanted to share one of my favorite passages from this story. "There are some upon this earth of yours," returned the Spirit, "who lay claim to know us, and who do th

/lifestyle

Dec 7th

How Human Composting in SoDo Challenges Class-Based Death Care

Recompose has instutied a program that asks investors and people who can affort to pay more to help subsidize those who can't. It's the most equitable approach to death and disposition that I've seen.

/finance

Nov 26th

Huron County funeral director facing 39 embezzlement and fraud charges

This happens an awful lot. Sometimes regulators catch it in time for the responsible party to make restitution, lots of times it doesn't.

/news

Nov 24th

Funeral home being investigated for identity theft had previous problems resulting in charges and fines, records show

There's so much going on with the Texas Funeral Service Commission. It's been burning through executive directors and facing scandal after scandal for the last few years. This raid easily could be part of something bigger.