(hma!ior]: A Sensible Alternative

For many, death and its aftermath is a distasteful subject; a subject to be ignored or avoided until suddenly it demands attention. Those who lose a close relative or friend are often left in a state of shock and grief, They are illprepared to handle arrangements for a funeral or burial or cremation—yet they often nzu~t attend to the myriad social and financial details. My own mother’s death last year was sudden, and—like most optimists who repress or deny even the possibility ofa loved one’s death—my sister, my brother, and myself were not prepared with a specific plan of action. All we knew was that—in the absence of specific instructions in her will—she had mentioned wanting her body cremated. I hope that recounting my experiences in arranging the cremation will be of some help to CC readers. In much of the world cremation is considered the only sensible form of “burial.” So it is strange that it is so difficult to arrange a simple cremation in the United States. The laws concerning funeral arrangements are far from uniform in the various states, and sometimes seem to be based more on superstition than on good sense. For example, it is not generally known that funeral laws in many states mandate that you deal with a funeral director—even though your only objective is disposal of a body through cremation. Even when a body is donated to medical research, the services of a funeral director may be required just to move it. According to Jessica Mitford, author of The A met-katz Way of Death, the American funeral industry has steadfastly fought against “direct cremation.”1 This means taking the body directly to the crematorium, bypassing the need for a coffin or even an undertake, Direct cremation is virtually impossible in the U.S. because most states require caskets for cremation. z Even when not required by state law, many funeral homes force those arranging cremations to purchase coffins. In one recent case, the Federal Trade Commission prohibited a funeral home chain from requiring customers to buy a coffin for immediate cremations. s When my mother died, I asked the direcror of the hospital for rhe name of a reputable local funeral director. I got the name and checked the yellow pages for the telephone number. A