Influencing Hospital Protocols

One obstacle facing some families serving as their own funeral directors when a death occurs in a hospital or long term care facility is ignorance on the part of employees who are not aware that a body can be released into the custody of the next-of-kin. Accustomed to calling a funeral home at such times, employees sometimes assert that this practice is mandated. Even an assertive family member, certain of his or her rights, can find mounting a defense at such a tender moment too daunting. We need to be advocates for change in this area, so that hospitals and nursing homes are prepared for this eventuality.

The Joint Commission (previously the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) is an independent, not-for-profit organization that evaluates and accredits more than 16,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. As the nation's predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in health care, it exerts considerable influence on hospital and long-term care facility practices. So when one of my relatives, a former Internist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, suggested to me recently that I might try to get The Joint Commission to develop protocols for releasing the body to the next-of-kin, I realized immediately how helpful that might be for the home funeral movement. He suggested additionally that if we could position this as a human rights issue, we might find more support.

I wish I knew someone who knows someone at The Joint Commission who could embrace this issue as their own. But I did succeed last week in finding out who would be the person responsible for considering such a request: Dr. Robert Wise, who is the commission's vice president of standards and survey methods. Today I wrote and mailed this letter to him:

Dear Dr. Wise:

I am the project leader for Undertaken With Love, a noncommercial endeavor of a group of home funeral advocates across America aimed at increasing public awareness of a family’s right to care for its own dead until burial or cremation. Though still an uncommon choice, home funerals are slowly picking up in towns where groups have formed to support them. Those who arrange such funerals find that participating creatively in the final care of the body gives them a sense of having honored the loved one and promotes their own adjustment, allowing them to spend unhurried time with the body in the comfort and privacy of the home. It is also a very affordable option.

One obstacle to the practice, however, is the lack of protocols in hospitals and long-term care facilities for releasing a body into the custody of the next-of-kin rather than a commercial funeral provider. We have seen instances where a family has prepared for a home funeral well in advance, only to encounter hospital employees who are unaware of the family’s right to care for its own dead who insist that calling a funeral home is mandated. Even for an assertive individual certain of his or her rights, the notion of mounting a rigorous defense at such a tender moment is daunting. Too often, the family caves in, and a commercial funeral provider is summoned.

As you can imagine, this amounts to a human rights issue, given that only six states require the involvement of a licensed funeral provider at some point during the funeral process (Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska and New York). It would be most helpful if The Joint Commission would establish recommended protocols for releasing a body into the custody of the next-of-kin. If it would be helpful, I could provide you with a few examples from hospitals that are especially progressive in this respect.

I’m enclosing our guide to home funerals in case you would be interested in seeing how attentive this movement is both to the practical skills involved in caring for a body for several days as well as the legal responsibilities involved.

I will be away June 3-9 but would be happy to talk with you about this at any other time if you are interested.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Holly Stevens

We'll see what happpens....