Caring for the Dead: Your Final Act of Love
By:
Lisa Carlson
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Lowest New Price: $75.00
List Price: $19.95
Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5
Description:
This is a comprehensive guide for consumers making funeral arrangements with or without a funeral director. It contains detailed descriptions of the "tricks of the funeral trade", to avoid unwanted and overpriced goods and services, and how to file a complaint when subjected to unethical funeral home practices. It provides practical information on all aspects of death care, so that family, friends, and church groups can perform some or all of the functions themselves rather than hiring a funeral director. The laws and regulations of each state are described in easy-to-understand language, with listings of "consumer concerns" in states that have inadequate protections for consumers. The individual chapters for each state also include contact information for medical schools that have a need for body donations, crematories, local non-profit memorial societies, and specific statewide cautions about dealing with funeral and cemetery establishments. The Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule is explained, including the protections it provides for consumers and also its shortcomings.
Publisher: Upper Access
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
An open book for open minds - Not only is the title right on, all the details, state by state, of dealing with the laws and the usual funeral system are right there. Can I bury her ashes in the back yard? (Not legally in lot of places, but the reality is no one will likely make a fuss of it unless there is family feud going on.) Is a funeral director required at the burial? (Not necessarily, but often you can make up your own service, invite him, slip him a C-note and say goodbye. Depends on your state.) And many more useful and practical bits of information.
"Caring" is practical, sensitive, and helps remove much of the confusion that goes on around family deaths in our culture.
But the law in your state may have changed since Caring came out in 1978. Double check now that it is 22 years later!
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Caring for the Dead - Anyone interested in the caring for their own after death should read this book. It is quite informative and includes information for all or our United States. I am looking forward to the next book by this author.
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Helpful Funeral Planning Book - Caring for the Dead, written by the Exec. Director of the Funeral and Memorial Societies of America, explains death and funeral issues such as cremation, burials, cemeteries, caskets, and embaling. The book also discusses specific death and funeral practises for each state. Very helpful guide.
-- Jamieson Haverkampf,
Author of the 4-time-award winning 500+ resource guide: Mom Minus Dad
Mom Minus Dad: The Essential Resource Guide for Busy Adults with a Newly Widowed Parent
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Care for the Dead...and Their Hard-Earned Savings! - In "Caring for the Dead," Lisa Carlson provides both an informative guide to DIY funerals and cremations, as well as a searing exposé of the funeral and cemetery industries.
Carlson divides her book into three sections: "Personal Stories" is a 40-page introduction to the text in which different individuals (including Carlson) discuss their experiences with death and the subsequent disposal of the dead; "General Information" consists of 14 chapters and explains both "traditional" and non-traditional funerals, as well as cremation and body and organ donation; finally, "Caring for the Dead" details the relevant laws and regulations of all 50 US states.
It was the "General Information" section that I found most captivating. I've never had to arrange a funeral (and hopefully I won't need to for some time yet!), so I was woefully unaware of what actually takes place during the course of planning and implementing one. Carlson demonstrates how greed and callousness have pervaded the funeral and burial industries, causing prices to skyrocket while sales tactics plummet to new levels of depravity.
Through manipulative techniques and downright lies, funeral directors convince John Q. Public that embalming is both required by law and essential for public safety (in reality, it is neither, and the chemicals used are actually toxic to the environment), while cemeteries strong-arm consumers into paying maximum price for a minimum amount of real estate, all the while demanding that any upgrades be purchased, installed, and maintained solely by them (for a hefty fee, of course!). Even cremations don't come cheap, as crematories guilt-trip survivors into buying expensive caskets (which will simply be destroyed within days) and cemeteries deceive them into buying niches in which to "bury" the cremains.
While this is all quite appalling, it hardly comes as a surprise; after all, it's just another example of capitalism at its worst. Harder to comprehend is how funeral homes and cemeteries are allowed to get away with this sort of crap! Well, again, I guess I shouldn't be shocked - we are talking about the FTC here. Like many savvy businesses, funeral homes and cemeteries simply band together in the form of associations, which then employ lobbyists, apply a modicum of political pressure, and top it all off with campaign contributions, and - presto! - the FTC at your command!
End of political rant, back to the book review!
In essence, the "General Information" section serves as an excellent consumer guide, informing you of your rights, detailing the immoral and sometimes illegal sales tactics you're likely to encounter, and teaching you how to come out victorious over those who wish to separate you from YOUR money and rob you of the valuable opportunity to care for YOUR dead, YOUR way. The final chapters on state-by-state laws offer an excellent supplement to the general information.
I highly recommend "Caring for the Dead" to EVERYONE, whether you anticipate planning a funeral in the near future or not. Many Americans are duped into buying funeral and burial services that they neither need nor want. Chances are that, sooner or later, we'll all be responsible for "caring for the dead," or will know someone who is. As consumers (it sounds rather crass, but `tis true!), we must arm ourselves with information so that we aren't caught off-guard when a death does occur. After all, we shouldn't expect those involved in the funeral business to look after our bests interests; the bottom line is that they're businesspeople who are concerned about their bottom lines! Educate yourself, and share your knowledge with your friends, your family, and anyone you know who's in the unfortunate position of having to arrange a funeral or cremation.
Another excellent book that deals with this subject is "The American Way of Death Revisited," by Jessica Mitford (to which Lisa Carlson contributed). Ms. Mitford deals with the subject in more of a muck-raking journalistic manner (as opposed to a consumer guide, as is "Caring for the Dead"), but it's a highly informative analysis of the "American death" nonetheless. After developing a sense of the funeral industry's antics in "Caring for the Dead," you'll appreciate Mitford's dry wit and humor in "The American Way of Death Revisited."
Customer Review: 4 out of 5
Read it before you die! - This book is a must-read before you pre-buy your funeral and accoutrements. Caught planning someone else's funeral? Take time to read this book. This book has a load of legal information and practical advice to keep you from being scammed by those who are pros and have a ready audience in grieving people.Not all funeral homes are devious. Some, no doubt, are very ethical and take the time to be fair with clients. But a time of grief isn't the time to seriously look into whether a home is trustworthy or not. What you have been lead to believe about funerals and the law may not be accurate. This book is a real eye-opener!
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