A Morbid Poll I know.

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Now I know this may seem rather morbid to some. It really isnt meant to be. But as nurses some of the issues we have to face are the decisions that patients and families have made for the end of their life. This is a poll of what you think best applies to your thoughts and beliefs about how you would like to see the end of your life ceremony proceed. There are many different ceremonies and I cant begin to list them all.

Would you prefer.......

1 The standard traditional funeral in this country with either a closed or open casket followed by cemetery

internment with the usual body preparation at a funeral home.

2. Cremation

3. Cremation with your ashes being made into "Reef Ball" to help rebuild coral reefs.

4. Natural or green Burial, where after a viewing if wished you are buried in green or enviromentally safe fashion.

I know this is a morbid question , but I have been researching for a while. Just out of curiosity and some decisions I have had to help patients and their families with of late.

Did you know in a study, easily found on the net. That is an average 10 acre cemetery contains enough coffin wood to construct more than 40 homes, nearly 1000 tons of casket metal and another 20,000 tons of vault concrete. Add to that enough toxic embalming fluid to fill a backyard swimming pool, a human carcinogen. I can see why they are being considered as de facto landfills of nonbiodegradable materials. Classified by the EPA as hazardous waste. All this has amazed me to no end.

Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

If I should die before I wake,

All my bone and sinew take

Put me in the compost pile

To decompose me for a while.

Worms, water, sun will have their way,

Returning me to common clay

All that I am will feed the trees

And little fishes in the seas.

When radishes and corn you munch,

You may be having me for lunch

And then excrete me with a grin,

Chortling, "There goes Lee again."

'Twill be my happiest destiny

To die and live eternally

-Pete Seeger

If I should die before I wake,

All my bone and sinew take

Put me in the compost pile

To decompose me for a while.

Worms, water, sun will have their way,

Returning me to common clay

All that I am will feed the trees

And little fishes in the seas.

When radishes and corn you munch,

You may be having me for lunch

And then excrete me with a grin,

Chortling, "There goes Lee again."

'Twill be my happiest destiny

To die and live eternally

-Pete Seeger

that.was.priceless!!!:yeah::yeah::yeah:

i take back about being fertilizer....

with my final destination being in the toilet:

from somebody's anal sphincter!

question:

why are some women reluctant/against donating their uterus/ovaries??

leslie

Interesting thread, I didn't realize so many people were interested in cremation. Not for me though. :no:

I don't like the whole embalming thing. You're gonna rot away anyway so why drag it out over 200 years when you can get it over with in a year or two. With my active life style of flying airplanes and riding motorcycles, I stand the chance of going out in a blaze of glory. What's the point in embalming hamburger?

I much prefer the idea of donating whatever organs are usable and putting the rest in a simple pine box and burying it in the natural earth.

I guess it depends how I die as to what kind of funeral I want. If I die in the line of duty, dress me in either my police uniform or a flight suit. If I die on "my time", dress me in my Confederate soldier's reenacting uniform. I attend a huge church so that's where I want the service to be. We had one of our pilots die recently and we had a flyover of more than a dozen helicopters, all of them from police agencies and the military. That was really impressive. Cop funerals tend to be big events anyway. I'd want all aviators attending to wear flight suits. I would like a flyover of either helicopters or vintage military airplanes. American flag draping the pine box. For the graveside services I would be sent home to my native state of Georgia.

My Revolutionary War ancestor got a land grant for his service in the war. Over the years the land has been divided up but way back in the 1840s my gggrandpappy gave some land surrounding the family cemetery for use as a place to build a church. Today it is a beautiful little red brick and white columned Baptist church situated on maybe 20 or so acres in gently rolling farm land in East Georgia. It's a beautiful place far off the beaten path. I have lots of ancestors and family members buried there in the cemetery behind the church. For the graveside services I'd like my pine box draped in the Confederate 3rd national flag. My friends from my civil war reenacting days would make sure I got a 21 gun salute fired by artillery. Muskets would be OK though. After that just lower my pine box into the red clay of Georgia.

My wife and I have discussed this and she agrees with it. We maybe should put it in writing though. I maybe should just go ahead and buy the plot at the church but the church elders, my cousins, assure me that a native son of Georgia will have a place there.

Maybe I will get raptured out and my family won't have to deal with a funeral anyway. That would be best. :yeah:

I would prefer cremation, after organ donation. I never knew of a "reef ball" until i came across you rpost. What a wonderful and beautiful thing to do!

Interesting thread, I didn't realize so many people were interested in cremation. Not for me though. :no:

I don't like the whole embalming thing. You're gonna rot away anyway so why drag it out over 200 years when you can get it over with in a year or two. With my active life style of flying airplanes and riding motorcycles, I stand the chance of going out in a blaze of glory. What's the point in embalming hamburger?

I much prefer the idea of donating whatever organs are usable and putting the rest in a simple pine box and burying it in the natural earth.

I guess it depends how I die as to what kind of funeral I want. If I die in the line of duty, dress me in either my police uniform or a flight suit. If I die on "my time", dress me in my Confederate soldier's reenacting uniform. I attend a huge church so that's where I want the service to be. We had one of our pilots die recently and we had a flyover of more than a dozen helicopters, all of them from police agencies and the military. That was really impressive. Cop funerals tend to be big events anyway. I'd want all aviators attending to wear flight suits. I would like a flyover of either helicopters or vintage military airplanes. American flag draping the pine box. For the graveside services I would be sent home to my native state of Georgia.

My Revolutionary War ancestor got a land grant for his service in the war. Over the years the land has been divided up but way back in the 1840s my gggrandpappy gave some land surrounding the family cemetery for use as a place to build a church. Today it is a beautiful little red brick and white columned Baptist church situated on maybe 20 or so acres in gently rolling farm land in East Georgia. It's a beautiful place far off the beaten path. I have lots of ancestors and family members buried there in the cemetery behind the church. For the graveside services I'd like my pine box draped in the Confederate 3rd national flag. My friends from my civil war reenacting days would make sure I got a 21 gun salute fired by artillery. Muskets would be OK though. After that just lower my pine box into the red clay of Georgia.

My wife and I have discussed this and she agrees with it. We maybe should put it in writing though. I maybe should just go ahead and buy the plot at the church but the church elders, my cousins, assure me that a native son of Georgia will have a place there.

Maybe I will get raptured out and my family won't have to deal with a funeral anyway. That would be best. :yeah:

That is a great post - and I've thought about being "raptured" too. Much preferable.

steph

No embalming, no viewing. Rosary the night before the funeral, followed by party at my house. Funeral Mass late morning (anybody/everybody), followed by green burial (priest & immediate family only).

And I know this won't happen, but I'd love to think the Mass would include Rutter's Requiem.

Donate my body to science, throw me out on trash day. I have never really cared. No funeral at all. No service. Body is a vessel and the driver's gone on! :D

But I don't disagree with others personal wishes though. And per an earlier post, I agree that someone's wishes should be followed!

My wish is to have all of my 'parts' donated as I am an organ donor and the rest cremated. I don't want an open casket or people looking at my shell of a body in a wooden box. I have told my husband that I will come back to haunt him if he doesn't donate everything that can be and cremate the rest of me in a nice green bottle or they can bury in the back yard or scatter my ashes anywhere they please.

I also don't want flowers at my funeral. I want people to plant something in their own garden instead or give plants for use at the funeral and then donate to a local women's shelter or something for their landscaping or enjoyment.

otessa

Specializes in LPN.

question:

why are some women reluctant/against donating their uterus/ovaries??

leslie

I haven't seen anyone else answer this, so I'll give my perspective... I have heard of uterus transplants for women who have had hysterectomies but still want a baby. I am not really comfortable with the idea of donating my reproductive organs because I don't see it as something that significantly improves someone's quality of life. There are several other ways of having babies.

I have never donated eggs and personally do not like surrogacy, so it would be hypocritical for me to let someone to use those parts of my body for that purpose after I'm gone.

I can't speak for anyone else's reasons, but those are mine.

Specializes in ER,ICU,L+D,OR.

For my funeral it will be green all the way. No embalming, No cremation, no casket. I prefer just a simple white dress with a white shroud to protect my face to be buried in along with some scented colorful flowers. A simple Wicca ceremony celebrating my life and my passing. I prefer no headstone or plaque, instead I would prefer a tree, preferably a fruit bearing tree. I love fruit so much. Maybe a Pomegranate tree. I always loved pomegranates so much, even when I was a child.

Specializes in Med/Surg, Geriatrics.

I want a traditional funeral, hopefully I'll look good enough to have an open casket with a bronze coffin and lots of flowers and tears. I want to be buried in a pretty lot with trees. No cremation. I don't care about the environment after I'm gone. I recycle today, ya'll can figure the rest of it out after I'm gone.

I want a traditional funeral, hopefully I'll look good enough to have an open casket with a bronze coffin and lots of flowers and tears. I want to be buried in a pretty lot with trees. No cremation. I don't care about the environment after I'm gone. I recycle today, ya'll can figure the rest of it out after I'm gone.

sharon, your post made me think of my grandmother's funeral.

solid mahogany casket w/brass trim, and covered with white roses...all over and everywhere.

back in 1980, i remember my father saying the casket alone cost $6k.

i am just not understanding the expenses incurred.

leslie

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