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All kidding aside, doesn’t that actually happen from time to time. There was a case in Brooklyn not that long ago.</p>
<p>“They had already applied to the federal court. That’s the rub. It was already in progress.”</p>
<p>This is getting to be too much inside baseball at this point and it has been a long time since I took Civil Procedure and Federal Courts. But I still think that if the federal court had wanted to maintain the status quo, it could have issued its own order. Unless I am mistaken, the state court was being asked to order the hospital to continue “treatment”, and that was the order that was extended for one week.</p>
<p>If someone has been issued a death certificate, I don’t see how they can receive social security or pension payments. I guess the family would have to sue to receive such payments? Is it possible they would be successful? </p>
<p>Though it does remind me of some of kluge’s posts re. extended resources for the elderly who may have minimal quality of life.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl–</p>
<p>Actually, the body farm job was on a recent Modern Marvels.</p>
<p>I’m vegan–no meat in the freezer. </p>
<p>My parents took us to Guanajuato (Mex.) in the 1960s and I saw the natural process mummies. In 1967 a private plane crashed in the street next to the grade school I had attended in the 1950s. Everyone rushed to the site. Body parts and fire. You never forget the smell. In the 1980s I was in the gold rush area in Peru/Brazil. Saw a couple of dead bodies in the bush. Early 1990s Mom died in her sleep at her home. I found the body. So, yep, bodies aren’t really a particular dread to me nor are they anything other that “human remains” to me.</p>
<p>I have been involved in recent years with client’s family dispute over how (and when) to dispose or bury a body. Many people have strong feelings about this enough to pay lawyers to fight over it. Sad.</p>
<p>I don’t think the government would have to accommodate somebody’s belief that a person was still alive in the context of taxes or Social Security payments. The public interest in certainty would govern, I believe.</p>
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<p>No they aren’t. There is no public health hazard presented by dead bodies. Embalming is rarely required and is an unnecessary expense.</p>
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<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/10/04/bib/981004.rv115616.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/10/04/bib/981004.rv115616.html</a></p>
<p>I don’t think they are all bad. I know a family that owns and operates and funeral home and think they are very decent folks. They do exactly what their customers want and expect, providing a valuable service to some in their community.</p>
<p>eta: PG: now I think about it, funeral practices are like weddings. There are no absolute rules. It is just the standard of your particular community, what you are used to, that seems correct.</p>
<p>I read Mitford’s book a long time ago, and it’s pretty eye-opening. I know my mother bought a very expensive coffin for my dad because that’s what the family expected. On the other hand, I just attended a Jewish funeral with a very plain wood coffin, which seems much more sensible (although it was harder to carry, since it didn’t have handles).</p>
<p>When my MIL passed, she left no money, but she expected an expensive coffin, four sessions of a wake, a catered lunch for at least 50 people at the same site where my brother had his wedding (she even specified the menu), limousines, a flower car and, my personal favorite, a vestment for a priest. So there was a headless mannequin dressed in this outfit standing next to the coffin. The whole shebang cost more than $20,000.</p>
<p>The marketing of caskets is definitely designed to push the more expensive models. That is certainly no surprise. They are usually grouped according to price line and many may want to save money, but it’s hard to choose the Economy line for your loved one rather than the Prestige model. Adjustable head rests and inner spring mattresses? Certainly you want your loved on to be comfortable. In some areas, it is suggested that cremation is not supported by the Bible.</p>
<p>For those of you who have not seen an interview with her mom. Please ignore it if it has already been discussed.</p>
<p>[McMath</a> Vigil: Raw video of Jahi McMath’s mother’s comments to… | <a href=“http://www.ktvu.com%5B/url%5D”>www.ktvu.com](<a href=“http://www.ktvu.com/videos/news/mcmath-vigil-raw-video-of-jahi-mcmaths-mothers/vCLZHH/]McMath”>http://www.ktvu.com/videos/news/mcmath-vigil-raw-video-of-jahi-mcmaths-mothers/vCLZHH/)</a></p>
<p>This is an old interview with her mom but the first time I have seen this. It certainly gives you an understanding of the moms viewpoint of what she believes. It also shows the uncle very early on talking lawsuits and how $250,000 is chump change.</p>
<p>Observant Jews do not practice cremation, and I was looking at a site which explains this. I didn’t find the arguments particularly persuasive based on biblical exegesis (not that anybody has to persuade me), but I did find the following quote, which I think could be very useful in justifying ignoring the crazy last requests of deceased relatives:
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<p>Cartera, you are right, a body that died of a trauma or of “natural causes” does not pose health risks until it becomes an incubator for bugs etc. I stand corrected, since my post implied that it does. What I meant is bodies of folks who died of contagious diseases could present health risks. I have been to a couple of open casket funerals, but in both cases the bodies were treated to stop decomposition in summer heat, but not embalmed to the point of mummification.</p>
<p>When I kick the bucket, I want my departure to be as painless for my family as possible. While no matter what I do I may not be able to alleviate their grief, I certainly can make sure that the financial suffering is minimized by putting stuff in (detailed) writing.</p>
<p>BB do you mean the funeral service itself is open casket or just the wake? Nearly every wake I’ve been to has an open casket, but I’ve never been to an actual funeral service that did.</p>
<p>In Angela Clemente’s affidavit, she makes a point of emphasizing that this Dr. Hammons had taken a Catholic Bioethics course of a year’s duration. It seems to imply that therefore it would naturally follow that Dr. Hammons, should he take over care of Jahi, would be following the tenets or philosophy of said Catholic Bioethics institution. </p>
<p>The Catholic Bioethics Center released the following statement regarding the Jahi McMath situation on January 7, 2014:</p>
<p>[Jahi</a> McMath and Catholic Teaching on the Determination of Death - The National Catholic Bioethics Center](<a href=“http://www.ncbcenter.org/resources/jahi-mcmath-and-catholic-teaching-on-the-determination-of-death]Jahi”>http://www.ncbcenter.org/resources/jahi-mcmath-and-catholic-teaching-on-the-determination-of-death)</p>
<p>From the above statement:</p>
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<p>I have to wonder if the Center released this statement as a response to the way Clemente crafted her description of Dr. Hammons and his credentials-as a way of saying indirectly that Dr. Hammons is in fact not acting in accordance with the way that the Catholic Church and the Bioethics Center in particular view brain death and the implications of same. I also wonder if it is a response to the bizarre behavior and statements of the Catholic pediatrician Dr. Byrne.</p>
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I’ve been to several–it depends on the particular culture.</p>
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<p>I hope that applies only to a person who at the time of death was an observant Jew. Otherwise, it seems high-handed: our religious beliefs are right, even if the person in life didn’t accept them, so we get to overrule their stated wishes, because we’re right and they were wrong.</p>
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I think it applies to a person whose family is observant–the whole point is to justify ignoring his wishes. I will say that I’m somewhat sympathetic to ignoring the wishes of the deceased person, if they conflict in any significant way with the needs of the survivors. If the person has really gone on the World of Truth, he has found out that what is done with his earthly body doesn’t matter in the slightest.</p>
<p>Hunt, I am very interested in your thoughts on ignoring the wishes of the deceased person. My mom has expressed her wishes in writing very clearly and they clash with what my sister and the brother who she doesn’t live with want. Now, of course, we don’t expect my sister to show up for any services or anything, just back a u-haul up to the house and take what she wants, but that’s another story. My mom really wants to be cremated immediately and interred at the mausoleum where my sister is buried with no service, no wake and no fuss. My other brother and I understand and completely respect her wishes, but I am sure there will be war. Which is why I am interested in your thoughts.</p>
<p>I was going to post a response, Hunt, but we’re way off topic here.</p>