Cremation is part of the death care profession, but many professionals do not examine the degree of risk involved compared to burials. While in most business environments cost of services increases with the degree of risk, this does not hold true with aspects of cremation in most of the country.

  For example, the fee for the actual cremation process rarely equals the cost of opening and closing a grave in a local cemetery. But the price of the cremator and necessary equipment costs more than the equipment used to open a grave.

  To determine the level of risk taken, one must first understand the risks. And once the risks are examined, one has the ability to decrease them by changing procedures to protect the firm, staff and consumer served.

  Cremation’s biggest risk is that it is an irreversible process. Once the cremator starts with the human remains in the chamber, there is no way to go back. And if the cremated human remains are lost, in whole or part, there is no place to purchase more.

Cremation Risks Start at Removal to the Funeral Home

  Every firm needs procedures to ensure that identification/tracking is taking place from the place of death until the cremated human remains are returned to the authorizing agent or final disposition occurs. Some of these procedures may seem awkward to the funeral caregiver. But the director must remember that the authorizing agent has requested cremation; times have changed, and we must protect ourselves and the consumer served.

  From the time of removal after the first call, steps must be taken to make sure the deceased is who it should be. What form of identification was used to identify the deceased: name on the door, paper on the door to the hospital refrigeration unit or an identification band? Every firm should require that their own identification band is placed on the deceased. It’s critical that identification is correct before the human remains are transported back to the funeral home.

  Even though an identification band should correctly identify the human remains, every provider should also have positive identification by the authorizing agent before cremation. It is best that this identification is done with the selected container for two reasons: It is one less move, which increases the chance of placing the wrong deceased in the container; and it demonstrates to the authorizing agent that the container they selected is being used. It is always imperative to verify the name on the identification band when placing the deceased in the container before the identification takes place.

  The authorization to cremate is a very important document that is often overlooked. The authorization used must contain all disclosures that the death care profession recommends.

  It’s important to make sure the following steps are completed on the authorization:

•         By not having the authorizing agent read the authorization, the agent can come back to your firm saying that they did not know that something was going to be done. Are you having them read it, or are you just highlighting or placing an “X” next to areas to sign or initial?

•         Require all authorizing lineage to sign the authorization. Some states do not require all to sign. Even firms in those states should establish the most stringent requirements for their firm and require all signatures.

•         The only thing that should come back from the crematory is cremated human remains, and firms should have a policy that only clothing the deceased is wearing and combustible items should be placed in the container going to the crematory. Some firms allow non-combustible or valuable items in the container with the deceased to go to the crematory. If the authorizing agent has an item they would like with the cremated human remains, it should be placed in the urn in the presence of the authorizing agent after cremation.

•         To ensure that the cremated human remains are only released to intended persons, it should be documented with the authorizing agent during the arrangements exactly who may accept the cremated human remains when they are returned from the crematory.

This topic will continue in next month’s column.