News & Funeral Costs: Oversight for a Final Passage
Published in the Washington Post, September 2, 2002
“Why,” asked a New York journalist who was doing a story on crematories, “has Maryland not passed legislation governing crematories—especially since the horror in Georgia came to light last winter?”
I had no answer, although I remembered the scandal at Tri-State crematory, where more than 300 bodies that were to have been cremated were found dumped on the ground instead in various states of decomposition.
Actually, a group of Maryland legislators has tried to pass crematory legislation. A bill, sponsored by Del. Joan Cadden (D-Anne Arundel), sought to mandate, among other things, unannounced inspections of crematories to be conducted by either the state’s Board of Morticians or its Office of Cemetery Oversight. The bill sailed through the House unanimously two years running, but both times it died in the Senate Finance Committee. “We’ve never had a problem in Maryland [with crematory regulation],” the committee chairman blithely maintained. Well, Maryland has a problem now.
On Aug. 1 The Post reported on the confusion about a crematory’s handling of one man’s ashes. [“Family, Funeral Home at Odds Over Handling of Man’s Ashes,” Metro]. It remains unclear whether the problem involved a mix-up of the ashes or of identification tags, but the bereaved family, who were about to scatter the ashes of their loved one, found themselves staring at an ID tag belonging to someone else. The funeral home charged that the family was just trying to damage its reputation.
Whatever the truth of the matter, the fact is that the only regulatory oversight of Maryland’s 24 crematories focuses on air emissions standards, measured when the crematories are in operation. Cadden’s bill, with its unannounced inspections of the premises, would provide scrutiny of much more: a crematory’s method of body identification and hygienic practices, for instance.
While many would call the recent incident a fluke—especially when compared with the calamity in Georgia—for the decedent’s family, it surely was a nightmare.
Without unannounced inspections, who knows what is common practice in Maryland’s crematories? Nationwide, about 25 percent of the population chooses cremation, according to the Cremation Association of North America; that percentage is expected to reach 50 by 2025. Shouldn’t we ensure proper oversight?
Cadden should introduce the crematory bill in the coming legislative session. The deceased—and their survivors—deserve the respect that the passage of her bill would bring.
Nancy J. Herin
is president of the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Maryland and Environs