# Death question(not religious) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2002, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-question-not-religious/125477 "2002-08-25T09:37:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-question-not-religious/125477/1 "2002-08-25T09:37:33Z")
This is probably a stupid question, but I was wondering… Simply… What happens to you when you die in a Major US City and are very poor and have no relatives who could pay for a funeral? I know they used to have potters fields, but do they now favor madatory cremation instead? I never really thought about it, but it came up and I just want a rather simple answer without having to go do a lot of research into this. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-question-not-religious/125477/2 "2002-08-25T16:50:28Z")
Procedures will likely vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. From [GALVESTON COUNTY POLICY FOR THE BURIAL OR CREMATION OF PAUPERS](http://www.co.galveston.tx.us/Community_Services/Burial.htm): > [@](#): > > **7. CREMATION.** > > 7.01. The Department may suggest cremation to family members as a cost-saving measure. A pauper may not be cremated if a relative or friend expresses an objection to this procedure. §694.002, Health and Safety Code. > > 7.02. If family members select cremation, the funeral home is responsible for having the family members sign a cremation release form. > > [sub]{This section is under review following changes in the law from the last session of the Legislature.)[/sub] That hardly sounds like it is the norm. OTOH, this excerpt from [LA Weekly](http://www.laweekly.com/newsletter/popup.php): > [@](#): > > …Bates’ body will be sent to the county morgue and cremated, one of 200 to 250 cases each year in which next-of-kin are not located. In another 250 cases families either refuse to claim the body or can’t afford funeral arrangements. > . > . > . > Bates’ ashes will be kept in a plastic urn for two years, unless a relative comes forward with $541 to cover transportation and cremation costs. The fee is discounted to $426 if the person dies in the county hospital. (Moving the body from the county hospital is theoretically less expensive.) Eighty percent of the time, the remains go unclaimed, and authorities scatter the ashes in a common grave located in a separate county cemetery next to the Evergreen Memorial Cemetery in Boyle Heights. makes it sound like SOP. You can get a glimpse of the situation in the UK in this [Memorandum by Carlisle City Council (CEM 30)](http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200001/cmselect/cmenvtra/91/91m32.htm) Hmmm… The little things you can pick up on these web jaunts (even when you can’t find the answer you’re after). Things are tough for dead paupers in SubGenius land, as related in [THE DEATH OF DR. LEGUME](http://www.subgenius.com/Legume/X0003_Legume.html): > [@](#): > > In Pennsylvania, even a pauper’s funeral costs a > fortune. Even if you’re being cremated, they have to embalm you first, put > you in an expensive coffin, and THEN cremate you. Irrelevant, I know. And here’s a Google cached story from South Africa: [www.news24.com/News24/Health/Aids\_Focus/0,1113,659\_995637,00.html+U.S.+pauper+death+cremation&hl=en&ie=UTF-8](http://216.239.53.100/search?q=cache:9oYhtZpQRo0C:%5Burl)"]When cemeteries overflow… Oh, another little bit of info, this from Garland County, Arkansas in [The Sentinel-Record](http://www.hotsr.com/archive/2001/nov/1108.html): > [@](#): > > There are no more pauper’s graves. Instead, most indigents are cremated because burial is more costly. The maximum the county pays is $500. > > The average cost of a funeral is $6,130 and the average cost of a cremation is $1,100 to $1,500, according to the National Funeral Directors Association. I guess the simple answer is that it depends where one dies. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-question-not-religious/125477/3 "2002-08-25T16:53:27Z")
I forgot to turn off auto-parsing of URLs; here’s the South Africa story: [When cemeteries overflow…](http://216.239.53.100/search?q=cache:9oYhtZpQRo0C:www.news24.com/News24/Health/Aids_Focus/0,1113,659_995637,00.html+U.S.+pauper+death+cremation&hl=en&ie=UTF-8) ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-question-not-religious/125477/4 "2002-08-25T17:53:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HPL \* > **This is probably a stupid question, but I was wondering… > \** No it’s not, I have wonder the same thing as I’m very poor. I want to be cremated and have my ashes scatter from the GGB, but have no way to pay for it.☹ BTW: My faith in the SDMB is renewed, If I wait long enough, every question I have **will** be posted my someone.😃 ---
**Author:** ![W.Panic\_Snopes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@W.Panic\_Snopes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/W.Panic_Snopes)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-question-not-religious/125477/5 "2002-08-26T01:03:55Z")
I worked for a mental health agency for the indigent in northeast Alabama. Some of the indigent who died and had no family to make preparations were sent to the TriState Crematory in Noble, Georgia, and of course they’re still there. [http://www.lieffcabraser.com/cremations.htm](http://www.lieffcabraser.com/cremations.htm) As a result, they’ve gone back to the much more expensive potter’s fields. To bury in a potter’s field, the body is not embalmed and thus has to be in the ground within 24 hours. It’s unmarked and in a heavy plastic casket. Of course, this is only in Alabama- different places have different ordinances. For a time, indigent bodies without relatives were given to medical schools for use as cadavers, but a major lawsuit filed by the daughter of a bag lady who didn’t know her (very crazy) mother was dead for several months and who had religious opposition to this ended the practice in Alabama. ---
**Author:** ![happyheathen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5e925/32.png) [@happyheathen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happyheathen)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-question-not-religious/125477/6 "2002-08-26T03:52:43Z")
I suspect the procedure used is largely determined by the influence the mortuary industry has with various law-makers. (embalming prior to cremation, use of a coffin in a cremation, use of concrete vaults - these all add to the profit of the industry) ---
**Author:** ![BlahMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BlahMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlahMan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-question-not-religious/125477/7 "2002-08-26T07:41:32Z")
Well, I used to work for a funeral home transportation company, and Cleveland, OH (cuyahauga county actually) used their own crematory (it was in the same building as the Coroners office) for the unclaimed, no living relatives, etc bodies if they died of natural causes. If they did not die of natural causes they would then conduct an autopsy, investigation etc. If you are poor, the responsability of your body would fall to your next of kin. I dont know if there are any legalities to your NoK taking responsibility for your bod tho. -Blah ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-question-not-religious/125477/8 "2002-08-27T18:43:12Z")
In San Bernardino, California, the “Potter’s Field” is behind one of the largest commercial cemeteries in town. The grounds of the PF are encircled with huge oleander bushes, and you can’t really see inside unless you drive in. The commercial cemetery is lush and green, with huge old trees and lots of fancy markers. Potter’s Field is sand, no trees, no greenery of any kind. I remember an article in the local paper years ago where a woman had lost two children in infancy, and they had to be buried by the county. She purchased chicken wire and a couple of sacks of ready-mix, and constructed two markers for their graves. The county removed them. And for the Doper who wanted to be scattered from the Golden Gate Bridge: in the State of California now, you have to have PERMISSION to scatter cremains. They are considered to be human “waste” and for alleged health reasons, can no longer be scattered at whim. When you receive your loved one from the crematory, you also get the paperwork which must be submitted at any cemetery for inurnment, or approved for scattering. Ain’t govamint wonderful?? ~VOW