My mom died and I couldn’t make it to see her before she was cremated at the funeral home, I asked my sis if she could go and take a pic of my mom’s face because I haven’t seen her in years. However morbid or gross this sounds it helps me mourn and makes the death “real” to me.
They told her they can’t allow this because their clients(my dead mom) have privacy rights, and for the same reason they do not allow photography at showings or funerals. :dubious: Then they said because of the social media and twitter nowadays, whatever that means. I called myself and got told the same thing.
My sister is next of kin, has custody over the body, and paid for the cremation. I would think if she wants to take a pic she has every right to.
Searching online I see stuff about FOIA and HIIPA not applying to the dead(well the next of kin get control of consent for HIIP), and I know you cannot slander or libel a dead person. Seems odd the dead have a privacy right not to be photographed.
The dead don’t have any rights in the legal sense, obviously, since they can’t sue to enforce them.
The OP says that “they” wouldn’t allow his sister to photograph the corpse, but doesn’t say who “they” are. I’m assuming “they” are the people running the funeral home.
Reading between the lines, I think their position is that they consider it undignified and/or disrespectful to photograph corpses, especially given the potential for abuse and offence opened up by photoshop, the internet, etc. They may also be concerned about the potential claims for distress occasioned to relatives of the dead by the publication of the photographs. I realise the OP’s sister was next-of-kin , but that wouldn’t prevent some other family member or friend from being distressed at the use that might be made of a photograph. So they forbid it.
I confess I’m not in sympathy with the funeral home’s policy. There are lots of cultures in which photography of the dead, and photographing funerals, is routine, and in a diverse community like the US there must be many people who want to do this, and expect to be able to. But I don’t see that the funeral home can be forced to provide services on terms that I think are appropriate.
The OP’s sister would of course have been free to hire a different funeral director, if she was unhappy with the terms of service offered by this one.
I have been at viewings (in the last few years) where I have seen people take pictures of the deceased in the casket. It is not something I would do, but I have seen it done.
I wonder if it is a state law where your mother’s body was cremated. I can’t believe it has anything to do with HIPAA. And I agree that next of kin and custodian should certainly have the right to take a photo.
In this day of cell phones, how the heck would they ever know who took a picture of what. But I can see their point. I imagine they fear the lawsuit the family might bring if they discovered the picture of their deceased member making the rounds on the internet while at the funeral home.
Didn’t President Clinton win a decision saying the rights of an individual continue beyond death? IIRC it pertained to rights of attorney-client privileges still existing even though the client was deceased. I believe this was during the Whitewater case, or one of his other scandals.
Was there an open casket viewing? If the decedent was being cremated without any viewing it’s possible the funeral home doesn’t embalm the subject or do any of the cosmetic work they normally do unless the family requests it. If that’s the case regardless how she died or how soon it was after the death the OP’s mother would not look like a body prepared for viewing. T
That being said it’s probably house policy not to allow photographs and even if the OP’s sister has her executrix paperwork & signed a notarized release they’d want to any negative publicity if the photo ended up on a site like Charon’s Boat (WARNING do NOT visit that site, NSFW doesn’t do it justice) and another relative sued. If you recognize that name of that site you’ll understand why.
Grude, I am so sorry! Like many others here, I’ve followed the stories of your mother which you’ve shared. I lost my mother a couple of months ago, and like yours, it was a difficult relationship. Which doesn’t make it any less hard. At all. My very deepest sympathies to you.
I’m shocked that the funeral hone didn’t allow photos; I’ve been to some funerals, and heard of many, where snapshots and videos were freely taken. That funeral home should be ashamed. And I am skeptical that your sister couldn’t have taken a picture regardless. What would they have done, confiscate her camera?
Solicitor-client privilege is part of the contract between the lawyer and the client. Like other contracts, they can survive the death of the client. But that doesn’t mean the client’s rights under the contract cease to be enforceable after death. They’re part of the estate, and can be enforced by the executor.
Is that what you’re saying or was that the actual decision in the case, because I haven’t had time to look it up. I’ll tell you, it was one of the few times I agreed with Clinton even though his motives were less than stellar. The idea that my attorney could blab all he knows simply because I croak doesn’t sit well with me.
When my dad died the funeral home said they would text us a picture of him before they cremated him, I presume to avoid possible mixups. I volunteered to have it sent to mine-Mom didn’t need it and it was just too creepy.
It’s my understanding of my duty as a lawyer, to preserve confidentiality until instructed by my client (or his executor) that confidentiality is waived.
Haven’t read the case, and posting from my understanding of Canadian law. YMMV in other jurisdictions.
This may or may not be relevant to the discussion, but just a couple of days ago, I was for whatever reason watching one of those Hitler shows on a history-type channel and as always, they referenced the Holocaust with footage of the piles of dead victims. But this time, all of the faces of the dead were electronically blurred.
Is this because the producers of the show think it might be too traumatic to see the faces of the dead (as opposed to the rest of them, in plain view and not blurred)? Or out of some concern for protecting the identity of the long-since deceased?