March 2018

Page A12 MARCH 2018 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A Triple H Company ESTABLISHED 1950 www.triplehcompany.com triplehcompany@att.net 1-800-252-3444 Fax 805-650-6444 FAM I LY OWNED American Made u Tongue and groove lid-to-base connection for maximum strength. u Green Velour Lining in Gold and White PYRAMIDS We are a cemetery, crematory and mausoleum product supplier. ® ® Authentic feature the exclusive green and gold Triple H Company logo ® Cremation Urn Vaults. Proven in use. ® u Two sizes – Original 9”x9”x14 ½” Over 900 cubic inches Accommodates most urns, three per carton. Oversized – 9”x13”x14 ½” Double urn burials and larger urns, over 1300 cubic inches, one per carton u Oversized lid manufactured with top connected to 4” extension. Gives operator one solid one piece sealed connection. u Excellent for Committal Services. u Solid Gray Granite Texture Inside and Outside for Consistent Appearance. u Three colors – Gray Granite, Antique Metallic Gold or Permanent Peace White. u Lightweight, high-impact polystyrene. u Lids interchangeable with common vault base bottom. u Sealer included with each vault. ® ® Legacy Funeral Group Expands, Acquiring Seven Funeral Homes and Two Cemeteries HOUSTON,TX— Legacy Funeral Group has an- nounced the acquisition of seven funeral homes and two cemeteries; a significant expansion of its current op- erations. These nine addi- tional locations join more than 100 funeral homes and cemeteries already un- der the Legacy umbrella, operating across nine differ- ent states. Joining the Lega- cy family are Marrs-Jones- Newby Funeral Homes in Bastro and Smithville, TX; Guadalupe Valley Memo- rial Park in New Braunfels, TX; Goetz Funeral Home in Seguin, TX; Lathan Fu- neral Homes in Grove Hill, Jackson, and Chatom, AL; Magnolia Lawn Cem- etery in Grove Hill, AL; and Fuqua Bankston Fu- neral Home in Ozark, AL. “We appreciate the hard work that the employees of these funeral homes and cemeteries have put into serving local families, and our aim is to empower them to serve them even better,” comments Legacy CEO, Michael Soper. “Lega- cy Funeral Group is lead- ing the industry through unique personalized funeral services. We have the finan- cial strength to ensure that these locations have every- thing they need to continue assisting their community.” Legacy Funeral Group was founded in 1998 and has built a reputation as one of the most trusted names in the death-care industry. The company takes pride in retaining the family-owned funeral home feel in every community they serve— even as they continue to ex- pand. Soper Concludes, “As our family of funeral homes continues to grow, we’re ex- cited for what the future holds—and we look for- ward to making each of our locations better equipped to provide the most mean- ingful and personalized ser- vices for families in their communities.” Cart” drop down selection. Most legitimate anatomical donation facilities offer crema- tion without cost, but not Hess’s Sunset Mesa Donor Servic- es. Reuters reported that she told an Arizona medical train- ing lab that “torsos sold for $1,000, a pelvis with upper legs went for $1,200, heads for $500, a knee for $250, and a foot for $125,” (according to a 2013 Donor Services price list). Donate Life America told Reuters in an email that Hess’s Donor Services had no right to use the Donate Life brand, as they are not a federally designated organ procurement or- ganization. These sale prices on body parts far exceed the discounted cremation prices that the few firms associated with donation facilities offer. If regulation prohibiting combined funeral home and do- nation services does not occur, abuses will occur. These de- ceptions are injurious to funeral service and to legitimate or- gan procurement agencies. I am a true supporter of organ and tissue donation. My fu- neral home has always worked with state sponsored Donor Network of Arizona and does many first calls and the obtain- ing of disposition permits for Science Care , a leader in legiti- mate tissue procurement I thank Brian Grow, an award-winning journalist, for his meticulous research of this topic. He has told me that he has left journalism for other careers and I wish him well. “The Body Trade was the most exhausting and emotion- al project in my journalism career. We spent a lot of time, in person and over the phone, with donor families-moms, dads, sons and daughters-who often did not know what real- ly happened to their loved ones, after donation, in a number of cases, we were the ones who informed them of what really happened, which led to many heart-breaking interviews.” –Brian Grow, Reuters, “The Body Trade” Observations The Body Trade, The Final Chapter “We regulate heads of lettuce in this country more than we regulate heads of bodies.” –Todd Olson, Yeshiva University professor of Anatomy and Structural Biology Rex Dunlap of Colorado was dying of brain cancer. He de- cided to give his body to Donor Services , a subsidiary of Sun- set Mesa Funeral Directors of Montrose, CO. They are an anatomical donation laboratory in the same building as a funeral home. Mr. Dunlap agreed to pay the $495 cremation fee (which was $200 less than Sunset Mesa’s usual $695 direct crema- tion fee because he donated his body). Rex Dunlap’s only stipulation was that his glass eye (a result of a childhood ac- cident) would be removed and returned to his friend. Dun- lap’s cremains were to be divided into two urns. One would be placed with his father’s remains in Telluride, CO with a message, and glass eye, reading “Here’s looking at You.” The other half would be buried with his mother in Denver. When Sunset Mesa removed his remains from the nursing home, those present repeated the request about the removal of the glass eye, a simple and easy procedure. Sunset’s Shir- ley Koch told them that it would be taken care of first thing in the morning. The eye was never returned to the family or placed in the urn. The eye could not be located. His remains had been sent out for “harvesting.” Dunlap’s head was “severed, embalmed and shipped to re- searchers,” Dunlap’s friend Ron Mabry told Reuters. When RonMabry threatened to sue, a check for $500 was presented. Reuters News/Thomson Reuters has posted the last part of “The Body Trade,” “FBI scrutinizes funeral home running a side business: selling human body parts.” The series has been written by Brian Grow and John Shiff- man . Over the last two years I, and others, have given phone interviews, video interviews to Brian Grow. I have connect- ed him with funeral industry leaders, suppliers and national politicians’ staff that I knew were also interested in regulat- ing this growing business of unlicensed anatomical dona- tion industries. I am sure there are many in the funeral industry that feel that I have been misguided to expose this associated field. This criticism is wrong. This subject is a danger to the mis- sion of funeral service. Part and parceling of deceased per- sons does not belong in a funeral establishment. The line of ethics can get easily crossed and the honorable reputa- tion of funeral service is forever tainted. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has shown us this problem. The staff of Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors/Do- nor Services were interviewed. Megan Hess was the fu- neral director and operator of the donation business. Her mother, Shirley Koch, was the embalmer and one who dis- membered the donors. Former employee Kari Escher has stated that Koch pulled teeth with gold crowns and fillings and that the pre- vious year’s sale had paid for a trip to Disneyland. When Reuters asked Koch to comment, she would not comment. When her attorney was asked in writing, they did not address the sale of dental gold. Arizona has a state statute prohibiting: “Selling or offer- ing for sale anything of value obtained as a result of the cre- mation process” (ARS32-1398.9). This restriction could be stronger or worded more succinctly. As this burgeoning industry grows, all states should consider this and more. As Reuters reminds us, there are no federal laws prohibit- ing the buying and selling of human body parts to be used in research and education. It is difficult to serve two mas- ters. Colorado becomes attractive to those avoiding regula- tion in final disposition. There is no licensure required for funeral personnel or establishment and it is not illegal to sell items recovered from dead bodies and it is not illegal to have a body broker/anatomical donation facility housed in a funeral home. At Sunset Mesa Funeral Directors and Donor Services, former employees did not recall hearing that families were told that their deceased family member’s body parts would be sold for profit. Robert Fells , general counsel of the International Ceme- tery, Cremation and Funeral Association , told Reuters, “The fact that now the business is also making money from the sale of body parts – if that is not being told to the family, it is unethical and probably illegal, if only as deception.” Megan Hess of Sunset Mesa, who claimed a PhD in Mortuary Science until she was told there was no such degree, described her donation services as a small family business. She created an online website, making cremation and body donation easy, which even included an “Add to By Steven Palmer Steven Palmer entered funeral service in 1971. He is an honors grad- uate of the New England Institute of Applied Arts & Sciences. He has been licensed on both coasts, he owned the Westcott Funeral Homes of Cottonwood and Camp Verde, AZ, where he remains ac- tive in operations. Steve offers his observations on current funeral ser- vice issues. He may be reached by mail at PO Box 352, Cottonwood, AZ 86326, by phone at (928)634-9566, by fax at (928)634-5156, by e-mail at steve@westcottfuneralhome.com or through his website at www.westcottfuneralhome.com or on Facebook. www.nomispublications.com Funeral Home & Cemetery News Contributors share insights and exchange ideas. B logs Your Real Source. Anywhere. Anytime.