Detroit is too broke to bury its dead

[regent park]

"Schmidt speculated that many of the deceased didn't have health insurance or could no longer afford medication for the chronic medicalconditions"

Imagine no LONGER affording medication .......... Real sad.

 

[eight2one]

Im goin to Detroit tonight..............

 

[mitchellicious]

This is sad. Detroit is no joke, I was there for a few days earlier in the year and it was like a ghost town.

 

[thunderchunk69]

Originally Posted by airmaxpenny1

Originally Posted by an dee 51o

Originally Posted by jose cansec0

is it safe to label detroit the worst city in america yet?

Only when New Jersey secedes from the union. Camden and Newark ftl.

Don't forget Trenton and Jersey City

?
Jersey City is not a problem
I had to edit this reply 4x to not implicate myself... and I still say the city as a whole is not a problem

 

[sneakerpimp2k8]

sad

 

[vandalshark]

dang, $700 to set a dead body on fire??

 

[troponin c]

 

[nationaltruckerdave]

NYC >*

 

[toppshotta]

I'm so tired of people acting like Detroit's problems are thaaat much different from every other big city.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/01/cities-too-poor-to-bury-d_n_306702.html

In morgues across the country the corpses of dead poor are stacking up as the the government runs out of money to bury them. State and county budgets forinterring indigent and unclaimed bodies have been drying up faster than usual in the current economy, as more families are unable to come up with the money tolay their loved ones to rest.

CNN's Assignment Detroit project released a report Thursday detailing how 67 people lie in wait at the Wayne County morgue. Unemployment, at a staggering28% in Detroit, prevents many from affording to provide their family members a final resting place, and Detroit's $21,000 annual budget to bury unclaimedbodies ran out three months ago. More bodies are being left to the control of the state, who are having a harder time picking up the slack.

Detroit may be over-exposed as a cite of poverty porn, but stacks of stagnant bodies rotting in city buildings offer a bleak picture of the city's abilityto provide for its most vulnerable citizens. Carl Schmidt, Wayne County's chief medical examiner, noted the despair of the condition. "There are manypeople with sad lives," he said, "But it is even sadder when even after you are dead, there is no one to pick you up."

But it's not just Detroit. In Jefferson County, Alabama, the state has only recently resumed burying the indigent and unclaimed, reports al.com. The countyhas been unable to afford to pay its employees who handle burials and grave maintenance since August, but some hospitals have started footing the bill untilthe county can afford to continue their services.

The state of Illinois faced similar fears as its Department of Human Services announced in June that it would be unable to continue paying for burial orfuneral services. Budget cuts, reported the State Journal-Register, had shredded the $15 million the state annually puts aside to bury the approximate 10,000corpses it takes care of. In August, the state rescinded, and approved $12.6 million for those purposes, which affords $1,655 per indigent burial, according toa report by the Southern, much to the delight of cemeteries and funeral homes. Funeral homes still absorb some costs to bury the unclaimed, but the load ismuch lighter. "It was going to become a big financial burden," said Tony Cox, coroner of Gallatin County.

The state's backup plan -- relying on funeral homes and cemeteries -- was ultimately an appeal to charity; they are not legally bound to provide intermentservices, said Harvey Lapin, general counsel for the Illinois Cemetery and Funeral Home Association. The state barely avoided that option.

"One way we look back at a culture is how they dispose of their dead," said Schmidt. "We see people here that society was not taking care ofbefore they died -- and society is having difficulty taking care of them after they are dead."

In LA:
The demands on the county crematorium have been so high that earlier this year, officials there stopped accepting bodies from the coroner. The coroner'soffice since has contracted with two private crematories for $135,000 to handle the overflow. Once the county cremates an unclaimed body -- typically about amonth after death -- next of kin can pay the coroner $352 to receive the ashes. The fee for claiming ashes from the morgue is $466.

Coroners and funeral directors around the country say they are seeing the same trend as cash-strapped families cope with funeral costs. Just claiming a bodyfrom the L.A. County coroner costs $200. Once a body is claimed, private cremations usually run close to $1,000, Smith said. Funeral homes charge an average of$7,300 to transport and bury a body in a simple grave, according to the National Funeral Home Directors Assn.

For the dead left to the county, officials attempt to recover cremation costs from the estates. But the county does not require relatives to prove they are toopoor to pay. Smith said his office, with a staff of four, cannot investigate. The morgue is similarly strapped. If records later show a family could have paidto claim a body, by law the county can recover the cost.

Other counties investigate families' ability to pay. San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault, first vice president of the California State Coroners'Assn., said his office recently began requiring applicants for county-funded cremations to submit a three-page application listing bank accounts, property orother assets. Source: LA Times



Cliff notes are at the top

 

[mattdaincredible]

damn thats really sad

 

[seventh letter]

Originally Posted by Purple Face

It's so cold in the D

Came in here to say this.