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funeral director access to their facilities Is embalming required by law?
for the convenience of serving the family. Embalming is not required by law. It is,
however, generally required to allow long
What if a death occurs in another state/ delays between death and the funeral. A
town? funeral home may require embalming for
Upon notification of the death, call open casket viewing during the funeral
your local funeral home of choice. Your process. It effectively protects funeral
funeral director will be able to make the workers, family members and friends alike
necessary arrangements to transfer the from a wide range of potential hazards,
deceased from the place of death to the and removes the unpleasant changes
local funeral home’s care. This relieves the caused to the body by death. Embalming
family of the stress and financial burden of is required when final disposition is
dealing with multiple funeral homes. Your in another country. Funeral directors
funeral director can and will coordinate must adhere to the requirements of the
everything for you. receiving country, and will obtain such
requirements from the nearest local
Why are public viewings important? embassy of that country.
Viewing the deceased allows family and
friends to begin the process of acceptance. What options are available besides in
Seeing the deceased does not increase ground burial?
the pain, on the contrary, in most cases Besides in ground burial, a family may
it actually minimizes the disbelief, choose to have an entombment, placing of
fantasies and often distorted images that the casket in an above ground enclosure,
are present when death occurs. Grief or cremation.
counselors recognize the importance
of the funeral and the viewing of the Can I still have a funeral service with the
deceased in facilitating the acceptance body present if I chose cremation?
of a death. In the opinion of many grief Yes, cremation, as in burial or entombment
professionals, families that are deprived is a form of final disposition. Cremation
of the opportunity to memorialize and is very much a part of the traditional
visualize the deceased have more of a funeral process. There may or may not
difficult time with grief and the grieving be a wake, a funeral service is either in a
process. place of worship or at the funeral home.
Following the service, the deceased is
What is embalming? taken to the place of final disposition, the
It is the process of chemically treating crematory. Some families will accompany
the deceased human body, using the the deceased to the crematory for a final
circulatory system. This is done in order committal, much as it is performed in a
to achieve disinfection, sanitation, cemetery, while others choose not to. The
preservation and restoration. It temporarily cremated remains become available to
interrupts organic decomposition and the family on average 3 to 5 days following
restores a physical appearance of natural cremation.
form and color. Restoration in embalming
focuses on the physical presentation of Why should I pre-arrange my funeral or
the deceased, and aims to recreate a burial?
naturalness of form and colors. Restoration When you plan ahead, you will be able
is often referred to as the artistic element to consider the many options available.
of the embalming process. The opportunity will be there to make
an informed decision about the funeral,
the type of service and final disposition
Butler-Hughes Funeral Home, Inc. - Page 27
