# not required to be embalmed **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 1, 2001, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-required-to-be-embalmed/70835 "2001-07-01T11:53:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![missue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@missue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missue)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-required-to-be-embalmed/70835/1 "2001-07-01T11:53:38Z")
I am new and this is a serious question. Re: digging up a dead body. I have heard that there is no law saying someone has to be embalmed. Isn’t there a time limit in which they have to be buried in this case? ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-required-to-be-embalmed/70835/2 "2001-07-01T18:51:07Z")
I don’t understand what the OP is getting at. If the body isn’t emabalmed, then it will just decay naturally… Oh, I get it. You mean how long between time of death and eventual internment, before the corpse starts to, uh, stink up the place. That would depend on a number of factors such as temperature. As to the law governing this, that would on where you live. [New York State Law](http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?cl=91&a=193) simply says: > [@](#): > > Sec. 4200. Cadavers; duty of burial. 1. Except in the cases in which a right to dissect it is expressly conferred by law, every body of a deceased person, within this state, shall be decently buried or incinerated within a reasonable time after death. \ ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-required-to-be-embalmed/70835/3 "2001-07-01T19:31:12Z")
When gramma died my grandfather didn’t want her embalmed. Because there was a public viewing, however, she had to be. YMMV depending on state of residence, but dems da rules in MN if the wake is done through a licensed funeral home. ---
**Author:** ![missue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@missue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missue)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-required-to-be-embalmed/70835/4 "2001-07-02T10:07:52Z")
Thank you for your messages. After reading the story about what happens to a sealed casket, I know I don’t want to be cremated, but I sure don’t want to turn to jelly, yuk, I, for some reason remember 24 hours as the time limit. I wonder if that is why princess Dianas boyfriend was buried almost immediately? I think there is a religion that doesn’t embalm people. It’s late, and I am tired. and this is not a real pleasant subject. Jelly yuk! ---
**Author:** ![Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knighted_Vorpal_Sword)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-required-to-be-embalmed/70835/5 "2001-07-02T12:05:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by missue \* > \*\*I think there is a religion that doesn’t embalm people. \*\* I can’t speak for all branches of Judiasm, but I can tell you that Orthodox Jews are not embalmed. Burial usually takes place within 24-48 hours. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-required-to-be-embalmed/70835/6 "2001-07-02T12:16:05Z")
Diana’s BF was buried within 24 hours because he was Muslim; they, like Orthodox Jews, try to bury their dead within 24 hours. AFAIK there is no time limit between death and embalming; the body just has to be embalmed before a public viewing. Before that they’re refrigerated. ---
**Author:** ![Spiny\_Norman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-required-to-be-embalmed/70835/7 "2001-07-02T12:21:56Z")
- over here in Denmark, I’ve never heard of anyone being embalmed, except for bodies being transported for burial elsewhere. Then again, we don’t have the tradition of public viewing, so the dead body is in a refrigerated morgue until funeral or (more often) cremation. S. Norman