Archive for July, 2009

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Current Funeral Home Fiascos

Friday, July 31st, 2009

Are they human bones or shells?

Are they human bones or shells?

Are you worried about receiving ashes (as in wood ashes) instead of your loved one’s cremains? Or, are you fighting for a body to be released from a funeral home? You wouldn’t be alone in both cases, as funeral homes in this country throughout July played some morbid and damaging games with clients. In other cases, some funeral directors and homes were sentenced to pay for damages this month for their parts in previous schemes.

  • The Unrefridgerated Corpse: The Hanley-Shelton Funeral Home in Marietta, Georgia was sanctioned by a state board for leaving a corpse unrefrigerated for five months. Although the funeral home had reason for revenge, as the client did not pay, their actions were illegal. Henry Shelton’s license was suspended for a month, he was placed on three years’ probation and will pay a $1,000 fine.
  • Seashells in the Urn: Marisol Villarreal discovered that her mother’s body had never been cremated and was instead left to decompose in a Gary, Indiana funeral home. Former funeral director Darryl Cammack of Chicago has been under investigation since May, when four extremely decayed bodies – including Rosa Villarreal’s – were found inside what had last been his Serenity Gardens Funeral Home. The Villarreal family filed a lawsuit against Cammack in Lake County, Ind., seeking damages for breach of contract, fraud, theft of services, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence.
  • Dirty Habits: Unsanitary conditions and improper body storage has led to stripping a funeral home of its directors’ and embalmers’ licenses. The Warren Funeral Chapels in Columbia and Fulton, Missouri, have been shut down since July 2008, and the charges have been settled this month.
  • The Case of the Shortened Legs: This month, a South Carolina judge revoked the license of Cave Funeral Home and owner Michael Cave for cutting the legs of a corpse because the body would not fit in the casket. The body was that of James Hines, a soul and funk guitarist who planed with J. Hines and the Boys in the 1970s.
  • Milking the Prearranged Funeral Plan: Douglas Darling’s mortician’s license was suspended for 15 days and he was ordered to pay a $500 fine. Darling was also ordered to pay $1,150 in investigative costs and attorneys fees, according to a stipulation and consent order. His crime? Soliciting older women for prearrangement services through Lakeview Funeral Home when he already sold them plans when he worked at Coffelt Funeral Service. Additionally, Idaho law prohibits licensed morticians from making uninvited solicitations.
  • Embezzling Ex: An arrest warrant was issued this month for former funeral home director John W. Hodge, who stole nearly $200,000, possibly from a prepaid funeral fund at Hodge Funeral Homes in Elgin and Fletcher, Oklahoma. The state Funeral Board stripped him of his funeral director and embalmer license and revoked the establishment licenses of both facilities after he acknowledged he failed to properly file annual accounting in 2004 and 2005.

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Posted in Cremation, Death & Dying, Death Investigation, Funeral Arrangements, Funeral Law, Other Legal Matters | No Comments »

How to Refuse a Bequest

Thursday, July 30th, 2009
Maybe you don't want that inheritance...

Maybe you don't want that inheritance...

Did your Uncle Big Bucks die and leave you his house, his savings and an investment portfolio? While many people would be happy to claim a bequest such as this, you may not want his financial burden. Taxes or other reasons may give you pause in accepting Uncle Big Buck’s legacy.

If you’re comfortable in your financial world and you don’t need to become a beneficiary, you can disclaim that inheritance and forward it on to your children or grandchildren.  Or, you can use that legacy to create a trust that benefits your descendants. By creating a trust, you can avoid double taxation (taxed when you receive the money and when your kids receive the money).

You also might want to avoid a legacy that is worth less than its market value. What if Uncle Buck’s home is subject to liens or in foreclosure? What if the stock market portfolio is worthless? What if your uncle’s savings are less substantial than the taxes you’ll owe on the entire inheritance?

In another instance, if your spouse dies and leaves all of his or her assets in order to take advantage of the unlimited marital deduction (a tax deduction that allows an individual to transfer some assets to his or her spouse tax free, creating a reduction in taxable income), you can reduce the size of the deceased’s estate and eliminate the immediate estate tax. However, this may mean that you miss out on using the exemption equivalent ($3.5 million in 2009).

Many states now permit a beneficiary to disclaim an inheritance. In some states, you can renounce the benefit and in other states you simply can refuse to accept the inheritance. If the deceased did not set up an exemption trust prior to his or her death, a qualified disclaimer can be useful. It enables the beneficiary to refuse to accept part or all of the assets, rather than receive them. The assets would then pass to the contingent beneficiary, bypass the estate of the first beneficiary, and use the first decedent’s exemption equivalent.

For state and federal tax purposes, disclaiming assets is the same as never having owned them. That’s why it’s important to follow the precise requirements of a qualified disclaimer. If the primary beneficiary does not follow these requirements, the property in question will be considered a personal asset (also known as a taxable asset).

According to the IRS (Internal Revenue Service), the term “qualified disclaimer” means an irrevocable and unqualified refusal by a person to accept an interest in property, but only if:

  1. The refusal is in writing;
  2. The writing is received by the transferor of the interest, his or her legal representative, or the holder of the legal title to the property to which the interest relates, not later than the date that is 9 months after the later of: (A) the date on which the transfer creating the interest in the person is made, or (B) the day on which the person attains the age of 21;
  3. The person has not accepted the interest or any of its benefits; and
  4. As a result of the refusal, the interest passes without any direction on the part of the person making the disclaimer and passes either: (A) to the spouse of the decedent, or (B) to a person other than the person making the disclaimer.

A disclaimer is irrevocable. The person who disclaims the property can’t come back later, after a failed business or stock market slump, for example, and reclaim those assets. Although state laws may vary from federal laws, in most instances the two standards are similar.

This finality alone should set off an alarm in your head. Tax laws are difficult to understand, and inheritance tax laws change, it seems, every day. Before you write that disclaimer, make sure you talk with an attorney who is familiar with tax law and inheritance before you sign away Uncle Big Buck’s legacy.

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Posted in Other Legal Matters, Wills & Estate Planning | No Comments »

“The fact that we survive at all is a miracle…”

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
1000 Ways to Die Web Site

1000 Ways to Die Web Site

How do you react to death? Do you ignore it, become fearful or nauseated? Some people react to death with humor, hence television series such as Six Feet Under, which opened each week’s episode with a new way to die. Now, you can watch 1,000 Ways to Die from Spike TV, and if you missed any episodes on television, you can watch it online.

If you’re at all squeamish about death, be aware that this show is graphic and the deaths portrayed possibly happened. Each show contains approximately six deaths as a narrator provides an account of the story as it unfolds. The individual stories also include expert testimony from physicians, pathologists, toxicologists, herpetologists and other forensic scientists who expound on each case.

Each story ends with a comic graphic that offers a intentionally hackneyed pun title for the death. For instance, in one death when the victim was cut in half by a semi-trailer, the post-title read, “Semi-Cide.” While this style is reminiscent of Tales from the Crypt (Hello, Boils and Ghouls!) the causes of death in 1,000 Ways to Die provide stark contrast. After all, these deaths could actually happen to YOU. However, some of the avoidable ways that people die (like drinking gasoline and vomiting the flammable results on a campfire) can give pause to thoughts about evolution’s progress.

1,000 Ways to Die premiered on Spike TV (a division of MTV Networks) on 14 May 2008, and the first two episodes are visually different from the rest of the series, as they were intended originally to be the only episodes. By April 2009, however, Spike TV ordered a new season of thirteen episodes, as the series became so popular despite controversy about content.

This show can be enlightening for those individuals who are interested in forensic science. With the help of CGI effects, you can learn what happens when a rattlesnake’s venom enters the bloodstream, how nitrogen bubble affect the body when returning from underwater excursions too rapidly and how sex can end your life if you enter into a physical encounter too rapidly.

The show’s origins come from the Discovery Channel, as 1,000’s producers are Tom McMahon (Monster Garage) and Thom Beers (Deadliest Catch and Verminators). While both men have provided a series that contains an overload of dark humor, mind-numbing gore and some episodes that seem more fiction than fact, the show also is educational. It’s amazing, for instance, how a person can die from a paintball spree.

You can catch separate episodes of 1,000 Ways to Die at Spike TV, including the most updated version. Wikipedia also contains information about previous seasons, including links to learn more about causes and methods of death (such as asphyxiation and billiard balls). Finally, tv.com also contains some episodes including a show summary and reviews.

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“Felix and Fido” Amendment Maker Dies

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
Jim King
Jim King

Jim King, a popular Florida Republican lawmaker and former Florida Senate President, died this past Sunday after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. He will be cremated and interred at the year-old King Life Sciences Building on the Florida State University campus. FSU dedicated that building to King last year in recognition for his help in securing state funding for biomedical research.

King earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from FSU, and he will be the first person interred on a Florida public campus since lawmakers this spring passed legislation allowing the university to build columbariums, or permanent structures to hold alumni ashes. This bill, called the “Dead Gator Bill,” wasn’t the only piece of legislation that King will benefit from after death.

In 2007, King rewrote his will so that the ashes of a beloved dog, Valentine, could be buried with him. But, he learned that state cemetery regulations referred only to human remains, making no provisions for animals. So, King created what he called the “Felix and Fido” amendment to the state funeral bill, where animal remains in an urn can be buried with human remains or cremains as long as the remains don’t mingle.

That bill passed with flying colors, possibly because Florida is known for its elderly population. Older people often rely on their pets and become very attached to them during waning years when spouses, friends and relatives have passed on and life seems lonely. King received more constituent support on this bill than any other bill he sponsored to that point. He stated, “It wasn’t supposed to be a big deal, it’s just something I felt strongly about. But, all of a sudden, it hit someone’s heart strings.”

The bill passed without objection. Now, King will be interred with two of his dogs, Valentine and Gemini, two Labrador retrievers who passed on before King was diagnosed with cancer. King, who at times felt that his political stance was “somewhere between the dog and the fire hydrant,” may now rest in peace with his beloved canine friends, hopefully as far from a fire hydrant as possible.

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Posted in Alternatives, Cremation, Death Care News, Funeral Arrangements, Wills & Estate Planning | No Comments »

False Crypts: Great hiding places for the homeless

Monday, July 27th, 2009
Two false crypts located in Salado town cemetery, Bell County, Texas.

Two false crypts located in Salado town cemetery, Bell County, Texas.

If you’ve ever visited a New Orleans cemetery, you’ve probably seen a crypt, or an above-ground tomb. False crypts, also known as chest tombs, box tombs, stonebox graves or crypts, look like an above-ground tomb, but the body is buried underground. The crypt itself usually contains an enclosed base made of stone, brick or concrete, and a top rests on that base. The top may be inscribed with information about the deceased.

Unfortunately, the inscriptions often bear the brunt of weathering, so they become hard to read after a period of time. While this slab provided information about the deceased, it also provided the dead with a measure of protection. The stone slab placed over a grave is called a “wolf stone,” because its purpose was to prevent wolves and other animals from digging up the grave.

False crypts occur often in east Texas and in various other southern-populated counties. Often, these false crypts represent a minority group. While many attribute false crypts to Louisiana French influence, this type of marker occurs throughout the south, especially in colonial graveyards.

False Crypts also are found in some Bahamian cemeteries. In some instances, I witnessed homeless people sheltered in false crypts that had been broken into to create an entrance to the crypt. After all – these crypts provide excellent shelter from the elements and a safe place to hide. But, there’s nothing like being frightened by a person hiding in a false crypt while conducting cemetery research.

This is one reason why it’s a good idea to practice safety guidelines while in cemeteries, especially in areas where customs are far different than what you’ve experienced in the past.

Image: From the book, Texas Graveyards, by Terry G. Jordan.

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Posted in About Tombstones, Cemeteries, Graveyard Etiquette | No Comments »

Types of Trusts

Sunday, July 26th, 2009
Many trusts are not that scary - they serve as a way to save money on taxes in many cases.

Many trusts are not that scary - they serve as a way to save money on taxes in many cases.

Are you working on an estate plan or a will? You might have wondered about using a trust, but the types of trusts may seem confusing. Additionally, a trust involves at least three people – the grantor (the trust creator who also is known as the settlor or donor), the trustee (the person who holds and manages the property for the benefit of the grantor and others) and the beneficiary or beneficiaries, depending upon the type of trust you use.

The property within a trust can consists of real or personal property such as money, real estate, stocks, bonds, collections, business interests, personal possessions and automobiles. Putting this property in trust transfers it from the grantor’s personal ownership to the trustee, who holds the property for the grantor. The trustee, then, has legal title to the trust property and the law looks at these assets as if the trustee owned them even though trustees are not full owners of the property.

Trustees have legal duty to use the property as defined in the trust agreement and permitted by law. The beneficiaries then retain what is known as equitable or beneficial title, which is the right to benefit from the property as defined in the trust. But, you, as the donor, may retain control of the property and, in certain trusts, you retain the rights of ownership as if the property still was in your name.

You can make a revocable trust, or a trust that can be changed or terminated at any time by the donor. Or, you can make an irrevocable trust, or a trust that cannot be changed or terminated before the time specified in the trust. Other specific trusts include:

  • Charitable Trusts: Created to support a charitable cause with annual gifts.
  • Discretionary Trusts: Allows the trustee to distribute income and principal among beneficiaries.
  • Dynasty Trusts: This type of trust can last for generations to help people with great fortunes control the distribution of wealth over a long period of time.
  • Generation-skipping Trusts: This is a tax-saving move that benefits several generations of descendants.
  • Insurance Trusts: Another tax-saving trust where assets are used to buy a life insurance policy. The proceeds benefit the settlor’s beneficiaries.
  • Living Trusts: Put your assets into a trust and wear all hats – donor, trustee and beneficiary – or be the donor and choose a trustee and beneficiaries.
  • Special Needs Trusts: Established for people with disabilities and who want to keep their government benefits.
  • Spendthrift Trusts: A trust established for a person who the grantor believes is a spendthrift! This type of trust also can be used for a beneficiary who needs protection from creditors.
  • Split-interest Trusts: This type of trust makes it possible for either a charity or an individual to have an interest in the trusts for a period of time.
  • Support trusts: The trustee can spend only as much income and principal as may be needed for the education and support of beneficiaries.
  • Testamentary Trusts: Trusts set up in wills.
  • Totten Trusts: This is not really a trust. It is a bank account(s) that pass to beneficiaries immediately upon your death.

If you decide you’d like some tax-saving benefits that trusts do provide, talk with an attorney to learn which type of trust might be best for you, your beneficiaries and your lifestyle. Make sure that attorney is willing to work with you to tailor the trust to fit your needs, otherwise the flexibility benefit of trusts becomes moot. Finally, make sure you choose a lawyer who is familiar with estate planning, trusts and tax laws.

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How to Avoid Lightning Strike Injury and Death

Sunday, July 26th, 2009
Eucalyptus tree that was blown apart by a lightning strike.

Eucalyptus tree that was blown apart by a lightning strike.

Last Tuesday, a 14-year-old Minnesota girl became the second person in that state to die after being struck by lightning while she stood under a tree for shelter. Almost every year across the United States, more people are killed by lightning than by tornadoes or hurricanes. Still, many people do not take the precautions necessary to avoid dying by lightning strike.

With a direct current (DC) in voltages that range from three million to 200 million volts, the only way to avoid death by lightning is the fact that the current is very brief, averaging between one and 100 milliseconds (thousands of a second). This is why only about ten percent of lightning victims die; the remaining 90 percent suffer injuries that can range from mild shocks to permanent problems that include chronic pain, hypersensitivity, memory lapses and impaired thinking and concentration skills.

Injuries caused by lightning primarily are caused by the body’s conversion of electrical energy into heat. The current can burn and char the skin, scorch clothing and fuse or melt metal objects in the victim’s pockets or on clothing, and even tooth fillings. All body tissues are susceptible to injury from lightning, and some survivors can suffer permanent damage to the heart, liver, kidneys, bone marrow, brain, spinal cord and muscles.

Some precautions to take:

  • Most lightning deaths and injuries do not occur during intense lightning storms but during that first or last lightning strike when storms are approaching or moving away.
  • Taking shelter under a tree, relying on postures such as squatting low and balancing on the balls of the feet or simply failing to head indoors at the first rumble of thunder all invite death or injuries. The image of the tree above shows that standing under a tree for protection might be an unsafe way to go through a thunderstorm.
  • To avoid the danger, you have to get inside, not in a shed or open garage, but inside.
  • While inside, avoid using anything that plugs into an outlet, including a land-line telephone.
  • If your house has copper plumbing, avoid the plumbing.
  • A car offers some protection because lightning will tend to pass through the steel framework. This does not mean that lightning cannot strike a car, because it can. Just ask Michelle C. Thompson, 23, of Fort Lauderdale, who was with her daughter and another adult when lightning struck her car this past Friday night.

Michael Utley, 57, never thought about lightning safety before he was struck on a Cape Cod golf course in May 2000. The former stockbroker spent 38 days in an intensive care unit, more than two months in rehabilitation and still hasn’t recovered fully from the mental and physical effects of the ordeal. He now operates the Web site, Struckbylightning.org, where he promotes lightning and electrical safety education.

Steve Marshburn Sr. was a 25-year-old bank clerk in North Carolina in 1969 when lightning traveled through an ungrounded speaker and struck him. Now 64, Marshburn has endured 39 surgeries and three bouts of cancer. Along the way, he formed the group Lightning Strike and Electrical Shock Survivors International Inc. to provide information and support to survivors who often feel desperate and misunderstood.

You can read more stories about lightning survivors and the pain they suffer, thanks mainly to nerve damage and memory loss, at Deadly bolts: Lightning survivors stress safety. Other sites that provide more information about the damage lightning can cause, statistics and more include:

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The Body Farms

Saturday, July 25th, 2009
Roma Khan doing preliminary work on decomposition of cattle. She finally hopes to open up a Human Anthropological Facility (popularly known as a body farm), where similar decomposition of humans would be studied.

Roma Khan doing preliminary work on decomposition of cattle. She finally hopes to open up a Human Anthropological Facility (popularly known as a body farm), where similar decomposition of humans would be studied.

A “body farm” is a research facility where human decomposition after death is studied in a variety of settings to gain a better understanding of this process within the field of forensic anthropology and related disciplines. The information gleaned from these facilities is widely used by law enforcement, medical examiners and crime scene investigators. Although the first body farm was created almost thirty years ago, today three such facilities operate in the U.S.

1. The first ‘body farm’ was created by William Bass III, a forensic anthropologist. He established the University of Tennessee Forensic Anthropology Facility in Knoxville to learn more about the rate and patterns of decomposition under various environmental conditions. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) regularly uses Bass’s expertise, along with many graduates from that program who have gone on to specialize in various criminal investigative work and forensic pathology.

The bodies used at this facility were and are obtained from various sources, including unclaimed bodies from the medical examiner’s office and voluntary full body donations. After Patricia Cornwell conducted research at this facility for her book, Body Farm, the place was nicknamed the “Body Farm,” and the name caught on for all such facilities.

2. Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina is part of the Western Carolina Human Identification Laboratory. It was opened in 2006 and is run by WCU’s Forensic Anthropology program on a small plot within the rural mountain campus. They, unlike the previous facility, can accommodate only six bodies at a time.

3. The Forensic Anthropology Research Facility was recently commissioned by the Texas State University – San Marcos and is under the direction of Dr. Michelle Hamilton, a former student of Dr. Bass in Knoxville.

The only problem with body farms as they exist today is that they can only find conclusive evidence on decomposition with  bodies that are found in given areas such as Texas, Knoxville and North Carolina mountain regions – the same areas where current body farms now exist. In other words, the information discovered in Knoxville may not apply to bodies discovered in Utah. More facilities have been proposed, but the funding has not be available to continue with plans. Roma Khan of India is taking initial steps toward establishing a body farm in India along the lines of those in the U.S. (see image above).

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Posted in Causes of Death, Death & Dying, Death Investigation | 1 Comment »

Autopsy: Dissection

Saturday, July 25th, 2009
A brain autopsy demonstrating signs of meningitis. The forceps (center) are retracting the dura mater (white). Underneath the dura mater are the leptomeninges, which appear to be edematous and have multiple small hemorrhagic foci.

A brain autopsy demonstrating signs of meningitis. The forceps (center) are retracting the dura mater (white). Underneath the dura mater are the leptomeninges, which appear to be edematous and have multiple small hemorrhagic foci.

Dissection of a corpse during an autopsy follows the external examination when the corpse still contains tissues and organs that can be examined. The steps that a medical examiner, or a general anatomical pathologist, may take in the internal examination include the following:

  1. Makes Incision: The medical examiner makes a Y-shaped incision, two extending from each shoulder down to the lower end of the sternum (breastbone), and the third continuing down the midline of the abdomen to the pubis. The ribs and clavicle (collarbone) then are cut and the breastplate is removed to expose the lungs, heart and other abdominal organs and blood vessels.
  2. Removes Heart and Lungs: The heart and lungs then are removed, usually as one unit. Any blood needed for DNA samples, typing and toxicology testing is then taken from the heart, the aorta or the peripheral vein.
  3. Examines the Abdomen: After the heart and lungs are removed, weighed and examined, the medical examiner focuses on the abdomen. Tissue samples may be taken for microscopic examination.
  4. Collects Samples: The stomach contents are examined and samples are taken for toxicology investigation. Additionally, gall bladder bile, urine and liver tissue samples might be taken for the same reason.
  5. Assesses Head and Brain: The medical examiner looks for signs of head trauma and examines the brain by opening the skull. The medical examiner will examine the brain as it sits in the skull (in situ) and then removes it for a more thorough examination and to take tissue samples.

Once each organ has been examined and samples taken, the organs are returned to the body and the incisions are closed by sutures. At that time, the body usually is released to the family for burial.

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Autopsy: The External Examination

Friday, July 24th, 2009
Cadaver dissection table, similar to those used in medical or forensic autopsies.

Cadaver dissection table, similar to those used in medical or forensic autopsies.

In a previous article, we wrote that the objective behind an autopsy, also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy, or obduction, is to examine a corpse to determine a cause of death or to evaluate any disease or injury that was present at the time of death. To make that evaluation, several activities are conducted once the body arrives at the morgue and placed onto an autopsy table.

  1. Measurements and Weight: This is the beginning of the actual postmortem examination. The medical examiner records this information along with age, sex, race and hair and eye colors when possible.
  2. Photographs: The body is photographed with clothing and without clothing. Many times, these photographs also are taken at a crime scene when the victim is part of that crime scene investigation. Photographs also are taken throughout various stages of the autopsy. More attention is paid when the victim cannot be identified, but in all cases every scar, tattoo and mole is documented with photographs.
  3. Clothing Examined: A forensic pathologist examines the clothing on the corpse to look for trace evidence such as hair or fibers or to find damage to the clothing, especially if it corresponds to injuries on the body. Once that examination is finished, the clothing is removed carefully and sent to the crime lab for further processing.
  4. Establishing TSD (Time Since Death): The medical examiner then tries to determine the time since death by examining the state of rigor mortis (stiffening of the muscles) and lividity (settling of the blood) when possible. Medical examiners are versed in body positions at time of death, thanks to experience, education and new information gleaned from experiments at the Body Farm. The Body Farm, or the Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee, has provided many body identification methods for various state, local, and national law enforcement agencies and county medical examiners for almost thirty years. These body positions and other clues may tell a medical examiner how a person died or if that body was moved after death (outside of moving the body to the morgue).
  5. X-Rays: Not every autopsy requires X-rays, but they can be used to supply evidence about the extent of injuries and the type of murder weapon used, if any. X-rays are particularly useful to discover bullets that may have strayed from the original point of entry within a body so that bullet can be retrieved for examination.
  6. Trace Evidence: The victim is searched for trace evidence throughout the entire autopsy procedure. Hair, nails, body fluids and tissue are examined, photographed and pulled, plucked or cut to examine further. All trace evidence is sent to the crime lab for further investigation.
  7. Fingerprints: After all trace evidence has been collected, the victim is fingerprinted. These fingerprints are essential to help solve the mystery of an unknown victim, and they also help to confirm that the victim is the right person when there is doubt.

In an external examination, all wounds are photographed and measured. A search for broken fragments of a weapon is part of the external exam as well, as evidenced by X-rays. The depth of a wound, weapon fragments and the number of wounds can tell much about how a person died, if a weapon proved to be the cause of death. The manner of death also might be determined, then, as well. This information, combined with a thorough examination of a crime scene, often can tell the story of how a person died if that person was a homocide victim, a suicide or if the death was accidental.

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