It’s an unusually grim time for purveyors of the Grim Reaper trade in Chicagoland.
Just as cemetery owners are battling bad press from the Burr Oaks scandal, where bodies were dug up so cemetery staffers could double-dip on grave sales, funeral directors find out the state is killing its tradition of paying for funerals of the poor.
The bodies are going to pile up, predicts Chris Wooldridge, President of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association, in a press release.
“As the voice of funeral service in Illinois we are gravely concerned this scenario will become a reality,” Wooldridge warns.
(No clue if the pun is intended or not.)
State reimbursement sometimes doesn’t meet funeral homes' cost. Because homes aren’t required to participate in Department of Human Services burial programs, Wooldridge says, some homes will simply stop taking charity cases.
“With no funding or disposition, the State of Illinois will be faced with deceased individuals remaining at their place of death,” he said. “This scenario would create a massive public health concern for the residents of this state."
Wooldridge doubts that coroners and medical examiners are prepared to handle the impending influx of unclaimed bodies. Besides, there is really no place to keep them.
“It is the mission of funeral directors to provide a dignified service to all deceased,” he says.
But "we are also business owners and taxpayers who employ many people and cannot afford to absorb the cost of these services."
The IFDA urges state lawmakers to reconsider and find the funds to bury those who can’t afford it.
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