Dead human bodies; storage of body for more than 48 hours prior to disposition. (SB595)

This is a very bad bill. There appears to be no provision for those who want a home funeral and/or home burial, for those of Jewish or Muslim faith or for others who want a more natural disposition. The CDC states that dead bodies pose little threat to public health. It is reasonable to be able to keep a body at home for about 3 days at a much warmer temperature than 40 degrees. This bill seems to be good for funeral homes, but very bad for consumers. It should be defeated.

With home funerals and burials becoming more common, families who do not want, or cannot afford a funeral and wish to keep their loved one in their home prior to burial, could be in violation of this law if it passed. Please do more research into home funerals and why people are choosing to keep their deceased loved one with them until burial, which is usually within 48 hours. Please defeat this bill.

I find it interesting that the proposer of this bill is a funeral director. Is there not a conflict of interest here? How does a supporter of home funerals get a bill introduced? According to the Home Funeral Alliance: www.homefuneralalliance.org, Virginia has a law that after 48 hours a body must be refrigerated. That law allows families to have the time they need for a home funeral. Please defeat this bill so that families continue to have that option.

This bill is fraught with issues that affect Virginia families seeking to care for their own dead, a fundamental American right that will be severely impeded if it becomes law. It invites the government into private homes to monitor the intimate activities of families, an unrealistic and, fortunately, unenforceable intrusion. By requiring an unnecessary and unattainable goal of refrigerating to an untenable degree - not cooling to a reasonable temperature - it will force families to purchase goods and services they may neither need or want. These costs can reach thousands of dollars, adding debt to loss. There is absolutely no public health safety benefit, as the CDC, WHO, CID, and PAHO all agree. Bodies can safely stay in a 65 degree room, use dry ice, cooling blankets, air conditioning, and many other methods for 2-3 or more days with no problem in most cases, especially hospice patients. This bill is yet another example of government overreach intended to force Americans to hire a professional from the $20B funeral industry for something that has, since time began, been the responsibility and privilege of families. The National Home Funeral Alliance and its Virginia members oppose this bill and have sent each Senator and Delegate a detailed letter explaining the problems with it and suggesting alternate language that supports Virginia citizens. Please stop this bill.

New York Times Headline : Start-Ups Take Rites From the Funeral Home to the Family Home

There in the comments section it says this senator's bill was created to take away people's right to home funerals. As a funeral director, he wants their money. It's from Saturday January 30th's issue.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/business/start-ups-take-rites-from-the-funeral-home-to-the-family-home.html?_r=0

I know it sounds reasonable to say "Bodies must be refrigerated", but what he means is "Bodies should be cooled", right? That's the goal of a refrigeration, that's what it does...it cools. This being the 21st century, we have lots of ways of providing cooling other than a 'fridge. We've got whole room cooling systems (they call them Air Conditioners), techni-ice, blankets made of materials that freeze and provide massive cooling capability, and a range of chemical products which create frozen blocks and packs that cool so well one could freeze a body, if that were the goal (it's not).

By demanding that only one kind of cooling is allowed, that being refrigeration, Senator Alexander guarantees one must hire a funeral home. Is Senator Alexander 'playing' his co-workers so that the senator can legislate folks out of home funerals? Is he trying to intentionally cause a disruption in home funeral practices? I don't know. Maybe. Or maybe he just didn't think it through. But that's ok, because we have, and we're on it. Oppose SB595.

Please people of Virginia and the rest of the world. Do your home work before supporting this bill. The passing of such without ample research will only hurt the people the Senator is claiming to protect. Think logically, who will benefit? NO ONE EXCEPT the FUNERAL INDUSTRY!! They're trying their best to have a monopoly on the care of the deceased. Most won't allow viewing unless the body is embalmed which is a barbaric function that serves no purpose other than making a wax like image of the deceased. I will admit, that in cases of traumatic deaths, it may be of benefit for a family viewing. However, for a natural death it is entirely unnecessary. As stated by others, there are many ways to keep the body cooled, i.e., refrigerated. What would one do in case of a natural disaster and the electricity is out for days or weeks? Would families then have to transport their loved ones hundreds of miles to a refrigerator? We have these natural disasters often. What if I don't want my body taken to some strange place and put in a refrigerator when I die? Do I not have any rights in the matter? Please get the opinions of someone other than funeral directors. Don't be afraid to ask important questions. Talking about death will not make it happen any more than talking about winnning the lottery will make it happen. THINK THIS THROUGH Virginia and say NO!!

I would like to mention a POV more inherent to a Buddhist view that the personality takes a full 72 hours to separate successfully from the issues of being in form. There are current system s that verify this concept at the level of science. We do not simply die and no purpose for the body during a natural process to provide a ground for the personality as it has its own conscious sense of a natural process, only made Unnatural when the link is broken through movement of the body. And that time is the deepest time for meditation and sharing and remembrance. What's the rush anyway! There is a whole way of thinking about life and death and forgiveness inherent in the human right to have a good death. Rush is never healthy for anybody.

I hope the proposed bill will be defeated. This bill does not serve the people and especially not those who wish for a home funeral. This bill serves the interest of the funeral director who proposed it and those in the funeral industry who wish to stop families having a home funerals, therefore I believe this bill is a move driven by financial interests and a fear if people do not buy what these funeral directors offer, they must be forced to do so.

It is high time that the American funeral industry becomes more environmentally aware.
As stated in comments above, there are many ways of keeping a body cooled or refrigerated. Techno ice is what some people in the UK use to keep the body at home for a few days until the funeral, if that is what the family want. It is perfectly safe.

The overbearing attitude of the funeral industry needs to be exposed, it is infringing on people's rights on how to conduct a funeral and this should be stopped. I hope the people of Virginia decide to say no to this bill, because that is only common sense.

The previous comments have stated all the reasons for defeating the body storage bill. I agree with all of them. Funerals were a family affair before embalming was offered as a service to the affluent families of the north during the civil war due to the weeks it took to transport the bodies back to the families. The embalming business evolved into the funeral industry of today on the false premise that there was a safety issue. There was no safety issue before the funeral industry marketed the service of embalming, and there is no safety issue now. Embalming is no longer needed or required by law, and preservation of the body for the few days of vigil while lying in honor at home is very easy to accomplish with today's cooling methods as stated, ie air conditioning, dry ice, techni ice, cooling blankets. Please read the online material from Funeral Consumers Alliance, Green Burial Council, and National Home Funeral Alliance for the facts concerning body preservation for funeral arrangement purposes. The people of Virginia can help all of us by contacting your representatives to let your wishes and innate rights known. That is the only way to have laws written of the people, by the people and for the people, and not for special interests motivated by financial gain.

I oppose SB595 and urge others to as well. When it comes to family choice in end-of-life matters, I advocate more options, not fewer, and more family involvement, not less. When dying time visits a family, we carry each other. Let's preserve the right to do that in our own homes. -- Don @ PiedmontPineCoffins.com

This bill looks like another attempt by the funeral home lobby to increase their business at the expense of consumers. There isn't any reasonable need to refrigerate a body. Please vote against this bill. BAD FOR CONSUMERS good for the funeral industry.

The statements, facts and issues written above are accurate, consistent and important. The funeral industry has been perpetrating such nonsense for well over a century now. Hopefully, the good folks of Virginia will not only retain their rights to DIY funerals but also set another precedent toward such rights in all states and provinces. Readers can find more information, as well as good humor, in the following two books: The American Way of Death Revisited, by Jessica Mitford, 1998; and, Final Rights, by Joshua Slocum and Lisa Carlson, 2011.

Please, Virginia legislators, vote NO on SB595. It is simply a way to mandate profits for the funeral industry.

Families were taking care of their own dead long before anyone claimed the title of Mortician or Funeral Director and long before refrigeration. A cold room, a piece of dry ice, air-conditioning are readily available today. Keeping a body cool or even cold, does not require refrigeration.

Families who wish to honor their own, at home, should not be discriminated against nor burdened by unnecessary legislation. Please uphold the rights of families over the right of corporate profits.

Vote NO on SB595.

Please, Virginia legislators, vote NO on SB595.
As a parent who buried a child I can personally say what saved MY life was to be able to keep her little body in the house for the three days prior to the funeral. The Mortuary came by with ice and a little casket. The gentleness of this is beyond words. Don't take this right away!!!

This is indeed a very bad bill. This is an economic and emotional stress on the consumer and a big win for the funeral industry's pocketbook. It is also a very sneaky way to require bodies be picked up from home immediately and charge more for refrigeration. The green movement has inspired people to rethink death and consider more environmentally responsible and meaningful alternatives to expensive and lavish funerals.

I worked very hard to keep my mother home with round the clock care and the loving support of family, friends and neighbors. She died a natural death, holding my hand in the wee hours of a dreary Sunday morning in January, just a few days after her 90th birthday. Her hospice nurse and I bathed her, put on her signature red lipstick and called her nurses, friends and loved ones to stop by the house. As people started to arrive, a sudden burst of sunlight came through her bedroom window--she was beautiful and illuminated with sunshine. I believe that a soul does not leave a body immediately, that it lingers and goes when it is ready. I am not very religious, but her death changed me. I am proud that I helped my mother die well. This bill would have robbed my mother, her community and her family of a dignified, and personal end-of-life experience.

Consumers should angry about this.

I am a Virginian and I oppose this bill. Deaths often result in economic hardships as it is but an unexpected one even more so and for a law to restrict the right to have a home funeral or viewing is absurd and an abuse of power on behalf of the funerary industry. Senator Kenneth Alexander, the patron of this bill (and an owner of a funeral business) should be ashamed of himself for trying to enrich himself above allowing Virginians the right to conduct themselves up to being laid to rest.

This is a horrific abuse of power at the expense of grieving families, for the sole purpose of financial gain. It's unconstitutional, unethical, & tacky. I'm appalled that this is something we are having to fight.

This is a very bad bill. There appears to be no provision for those who want a home funeral and/or home burial, for those of Jewish or Muslim faith or for others who want a more natural disposition. The CDC states that dead bodies pose little threat to public health. It is reasonable to be able to keep a body at home for about 3 days at a much warmer temperature than 40 degrees. This bill seems to be good for funeral homes, but very bad for consumers. It should be defeated.
This has special interests written all over it. Really -- a funeral home owner sponsored this bill that only seems to benefit funeral homes?? How stupid was the Senate to pass this power grab? There is already legislation that addresses the storage/coolng of bodies. Pass this and it'll open the door for more abuse.
Funeral homes generally extort people for something that should be so simply done and AFFORDABLE. You will find more people simply abandoning bodies or worse, burying them themselves in undisclosed locations because funeral home$$$$ want your money money money. We recently went for cremation other than burial simply because of cost.

My religious beliefs prevent me from letting funeral homes desecrate my body in the way that they do. If this passes....I will be calling the ACLU!!!

I oppose SB595! Let the families decide what to do with their loved ones instead of letting funeral homes bully them into spending money they might not be able to afford! There are no legitimate health reasons to not keep the body at home if that is what they wish!

Another over-reach from a government that is not working to do what is best for Virginians. We do not want the government intruding on us in our moment of grief. The dead should be cared for in the home, if that is the wish of the family, without Virginia trying to put its foot in the door. Leave families in grief alone!

I hope the citizens go a step further and this Senator loses his seat next election. He is showing that his interests are more important than the people's.

This bill is clearly financially motivated. There are not health risks associated with keeping a corpse in the home without refrigeration. It only serves to cost money to grieving families who would be capable of caring for their own deceased were it not for this bill passing. It is intrusive, unnecessary, and financially costly.

Senator Kenneth C. Alexander is a funeral director by trade, and this bill's true purpose is to force families into using funeral homes in circumstances where, without this bill passing, they would not.

A bill written by someone who has a fiduciary interest in the bill becoming law is wrong.

This is just despicable, a bill written by someone who will stand to benefit from it at the expense of grieving families. Honestly just wrong.

DId you see the video ASK A MORTICIAN posted about this bill?
Here is the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCH43YUO_iU

I'm a funeral director apprentice, and I support the right of the family to have a home funeral. Laws that prevent options for the family and directly benefit funeral homes are a step back for our profession.

I sincerely hope the Virginia Senate will not pass this legislation which so obviously aims to deny citizens of the Commonwealth their right to a home funeral. How a family chooses to honor their dead is intensely personal and should be respected. Lawmakers, please do not strip families of their rights in order to financially benefit commercial funeral homes.

This is a ludicrous bill that only exists to make funeral home directors even more wealthy! There should be a required cooling of the body but by stating this one specific method it stops people from being able to keep the body at home. There are so many ways your can cool a body that don't require a walk in at 40 degrees.

Home funerals are completely normal and safe. This bill financially penalizes families that are already grieving the loss of a loved one and inappropriately inserts the government into a deeply private, safe, and harmless practice.

Feb 23 2016
Funeral law scholar Tanya Marsh weighs in AGAINST a senate bill 595 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tanya-d-marsh/home-funerals-rentseeking_b_9285820.html

We know what this is about! against this bill! People should have the right to decide what WE want to do with the body not the FUNERAL DIRECTOR!!!

Directors are there to help not put people in mountains of DEBT To bury the body if that is what they have choosen to do so. The funeral homes should not decide for the FAMILY

This is a terrible bill, put forward by a senator who would personally benefit financially from it. There is no reason to pass it otherwise.

Keep home funerals and wakes LEGAl in Virginia.

This is a terrible bill, put forward by a senator who would personally benefit financially from it. There is no reason to pass it otherwise.

Keep home funerals and wakes LEGAL in Virginia.

This bill arises from a conflict of interest and forces mourning families into even more difficult circumstances.

This bill is financially motivated and not in the best interests of Virginia families.

I have researched many studies that conclude that a body can be kept on ice or in a cool environment for over 48 hours without posing any risk or oder. Obviously, if there's an instance of a corpse being abused or decomposing is someone's residence, that needs to be investigated by law enforcement and handled individually. But I think everyone can tell this bill is NOT protecting against that type of wrong doing. It IS protecting the pockets of the funeral industry - which, surprise surprise - Mr. Alexander would profit from. This bill is a waste of legislature and an undue burden on grieving Virginians.