In general, it depends on three things: where you die, how you die and what you or your family decide on for funeral arrangements and final disposition. Death can happen anywhere: at home; in a hospital, nursing or palliative care facility; or at the scene of an accident, homicide or suicide.
Based on the circumstances of the death, they determine whether an autopsy is needed. If so, the body travels to a county morgue or a funeral home, where a pathologist conducts a detailed internal and external examination of the body as well as toxicology tests. Once the body can be released, some states allow for families to handle the body themselves, but most people employ a funeral director. The body is placed on a stretcher, covered and transferred from the place of death — sometimes via hearse, but more commonly these days a minivan carries it to the funeral home.
State law determines who has the authority to make funeral arrangements and decisions about the remains. In most cases, however, decisions fall on surviving family or someone you appointed before your death. In a consumer survey conducted by the National Funeral Directors Association, To prepare for that, the funeral home will usually ask whether the body is to be embalmed. This process sanitizes the body, temporarily preserves it for viewing and services, and restores a natural, peaceful appearance.
Embalming is typically required for a public viewing and in certain other circumstances, including if the person died of a communicable disease or if the cremation or burial is to be delayed for more than a few days.
The common practice of embalming has one purpose: it slows the decomposition of a dead body so that a funeral can be delayed for several days and cosmetic work can be done on the corpse. Despite the appearances it creates, it is a violent process, and the corpses still decompose. It just makes a dead body look, more or less, not dead, for a little while.
About a century ago, embalming was rare. But during the Civil War , thousands of dead soldiers were embalmed. They died so far from home that the only alternative was a battlefield burial, so a rudimentary process using arsenic was used.
Then, a few years later, President Lincoln was embalmed so that his body could cross the several states in a funeral train; in the public mourning, many Americans saw a preserved body for the first and last time. By the early twentieth century, embalming was being promoted to the general public. It was the main skill of the new profession of undertaker. Professionally managed funerals with temporarily preserved bodies quickly became the convention; this is how the majority of Americans were buried in the 20th century.
I have come to believe that the opposite is true. Embalming and the so-called restorative arts are about denial and, as a result, they unwittingly cause us greater pain. What good is served by turning away from the fact of loss? Only delay.
Only confusion , day after day, as reality collides with a dream. According to the National Funeral Directors Association, since , cremation has become more common than burial, largely because it is cheaper.
But embalming is still more common in the United States than anywhere else in the world. You could say it tears apart the constructs of your tissue. The embalming fluid that we use is a conglomeration of a bunch of different things. It has the formaldehyde, but it also has some disinfectants, so not only does it render the tissue unable to be fed on by bacteria, it also kills the bacteria itself.
What about formalin, the solution given to the Russian patient? Formalin is formaldehyde dissolved in water. For context, we use two types of fluid for embalming. One is arterial and one is for the cavities or the abdomen. The arterial fluid we use at our funeral home is about 30 percent formaldehyde, and we mix that in with water and that together creates the embalming fluid.
The cavity fluid is about 20 percent formaldehyde. If a teaspoon gets spilled on the floor, that whole section of the funeral home will stink and cause a burning sensation. Formalin is double that. The heart probably pumped the formation through the arterial system, and so it would have spread all throughout her body. I can only imagine that it would have felt like a burning sensation.
In general, how long does embalming take? And how do you know when the process is finished? What do you check for? As I mentioned before, the embalming fluid is a conglomeration of different things, and one of them is a coloring agent.
You can make the skin darker or lighter or whatever you want. Speaking of harsh chemicals, do embalmers worry about being exposed to them? There has to be a certain amount of airflow, fans, and so on. Of course, no embalmer likes it when somebody spills some cavity fluid. People, understandably, fear being buried alive.
You have heart monitors, oxygen monitors, and so on. But a lot of people are choosing to die at home under hospice care, and that changes things. I've had several interesting things happen on the job, but one particular moment comes to mind. I went in for a 3am embalming and heard a strange whisper. I quickly fumbled for the lights and, upon turning them on, figured out that the noise was coming from the occupied stretcher. I approached with caution expecting the person inside could be alive.
However, upon unzipping the cover, I found a tape recorder that I later found out was playing a Buddhist chant. The next day the family explained that, ideally, a monk would be at the place of death to chant when the soul exits the body. Chanting calms the soul, which the buddhists believe, is in a state of confusion and fright after exiting the body. The soul of the deceased must be put at ease with food and chant throughout the difficult time of transition.
This particular experience was both enlightening and frightening! My job is fulfilling when a particularly difficult case comes out better than expected. If a family decides to keep a casket open, when they previously thought they wouldn't be able to, or when someone compliments my work. The best compliment I got was from a woman whose daughter died of bone cancer.
She took my hand and said, "Thank you, she's so beautiful, she looks like she could get up and dance. In other states they have separate licenses for funeral directors and embalmers. Even though I am licensed to perform all aspects of the business, I work as an embalmer because I enjoy that particular aspect of the business and found that it allows me to spend a significant amount of time with my family. Trade embalmers, like myself, are paid by the job.
Usually we work for more than one location and will embalm, dress, casket, cosmetize and do restorative work. Trade embalmers have the potential to make significantly more than the average funeral director depending on how many locations they work for and how busy those locations are. However, we do not receive health benefits because we are not full-time employees. I'm fortunate enough to say that I have not made any major mistakes.
When I was an intern, I was super careful and very aware that any mistake I made could potentially affect the grieving process of the deceased friends and loved ones, so I always consulted with senior funeral directors if I was unsure of what to do or how to proceed with difficult cases. I helped prepare my grandmother and embalmed my cousin and one of my high school teachers. I would draw the line at mom or dad. Although I do know of a few embalmers who have embalmed their parents.
Those of us who choose to handle the preparation of our friends and loved ones usually do so because we feel as though we can do the best job restoring their natural appearance because we knew them so well in life. It is difficult, but it's a labor of love. Is it true that they have to 'wire' people's jaws shut, and put 'velcro' contact lenses in people's eyes, and stuff their cheeks with cotton wool? And is it true that the last thing that everybody ever does is evacuate their bowels?
The mouth can be closed by suture or by using a device that involves placing two small tacks one anchored in the mandible and the other in the maxilla in the jaw. The tacks have wires that are then twisted together to hold the mouth closed. This is almost always done because, when relaxed, the mouth stays open.
We also use cotton to fill out hollow cheeks or give the appearance of teeth to those who have none, or are missing a few. The device under the eye is actually a serrated plastic eye cap that helps keep the eye closed. I do not enjoy the look of them, so I don't use them. Cotton is usually sufficient to use under an eyelid if the eye has deflated. However, we usually don't need to use anything under the eyelid at all. As for your last question, if someone hasn't recently evacuated their bowels they may defecate upon death but not always.
It has left me with absolutely zero belief in ghosts,and a quiet and calm acceptance of death as a natural process. Just wondered how you view the subject of ghosts and all the other cliches connected with graveyards? I feel much the same as you. I have yet to see anything that convinced me of the presence of ghosts. If they do exist, I'm sure they could think of better places to be than haunting me at the funeral home ;.
In my humble opinion, the deceased is a vessel where life once existed. I still treat that person with respect, but the spark that made them who they are is no longer there. Certain religions do not embalm Jewish and Muslim are the two that come to mind immediately.
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