Uncle Cecil and the embalmed body.

[andydufresne]

I hope this is the proper forum for this as it's my first time visiting the Straight Dope.

First of all I don't want to sound like I'm defending funeral directors. But a couple of things you said are just not true. In all the funerals I've been associated with in any capacity the deceased were buried in their own clotes. Underwear, socks shoes the whole bit. The clothing chosen and the amount of clothing is chosen by the family surviving.


Secondly you said that embalming is not required by law. That depends on which state you are in. I friend of mine had an uncle that died in Memphis....she made arrangments to have the body brought back to Arkansas. The uncle had wanted to be cremated so she didn't see the need to embalm him BUT in order to cross state lines it was required.

Here it's not required to embalm someone who is being cremated or buried immediately. Only if the body is to be kept and displayed.

;j

Last three deaths I had any personal knowledge of all the corpses were dressed in clothing that they liked to be seen in. The last one wore a baseball cap. (He'd had cancer and disliked his bald head) Before someone asks there was no message on the front of the cap.

[Some Guy]

Well, Cecil's column is a bit old - look carefully at the date. It's natural that things will have changes slightly since then.

Embalming is a matter of state law (in the U.S., that is) so it will tend to vary. All that's happened is that some funeral home operators have had some success in passing laws requiring embalming, which, as Cecil mentions, they don't do for free. There's no actual health issue behind it, but people are squeamish enough about death to be easily convinced that there is.

[Persephone6969]

A really good resource for all things dead is the following book:
Death to Dust: What Happens to Dead Bodies, by Kenneth Iserson.
Actually, no state law requires embalming unless there is infectious disease present that may spread to the living such as cholera. Interstate law does require embalming for transport of bodies across state or international lines.
Any funeral director who tries to sell embalming services by stating that it's illegal to NOT embalm a body should be reported to the state's funeral licensing bureau or Funeral Director's Board (sort of like the Bar association for lawyers).

[Irishman]

Hi and welcome. Yes, you hit the correct forum, but you missed the note about including a link to the column. Okay, newbie mistake. Here's the thread.

If I dug up a body, what would it look (and smell) like? (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_092.html)

Now to your comments. You take issue with something Cecil said, but it's not clear exactly what. I think you took umbrage at Cecil's comment about funeral directors dressing the deceased in socks, shoes, underwear, etc that no one will ever see or check to verify it's there to run up the bill. Per your comment, the family provided the articles of clothing so the mortician dressed the body in them. However, is there any effort made to suggest that those clothing items are not required? Is there any information provided from the funeral homes to the families in the way of a list of items to be provided? Regardless, the main point is that you've just hit upon Cecil's flair. Welcome to the Straight Dope.