Do you bag your bodies naked?

Melandru · Feb 28, 2011

post mortem care depends upon the institution's policy.... but usually, clients are not placed in any clothing inside the body bag...

this is not a question of dignity since you are technically COVERING the client with the BODY bag... the client is NOT NAKED.

LACA, BSN, LPN, RN · Feb 28, 2011

Disrespectful and not necessary. I know the person doesn't care, but the loved ones DO.

(Correct me if I'm wrong....) Don't the families see the patient and say their final goodbyes BEFORE the body is bagged? The family probably isn't going to be in the room when the body is bagged anyways, and I can see how it would be easier for the funeral home and such to not have anything on them when they arrive....

barbyann · Feb 28, 2011

I will never send one of my pts out without a gown.........if money is the issue then take the $2 out of my check....it is about the type of care I want to give and my emotional comfort.

Patchouli · Feb 28, 2011

we place them in a drape, and then into the body bag. i really don't think it matters if they are naked or not, it's not like they are not covered with the body bag. furthermore, the mortician is going to get them naked for the embalming/cleaning, and/or the medical examiner for the autospy. i think the final act of cleaning them, pulling lines, bagging/drapping is an act of respect. if you feel you need to do more, then go ahead. it's not as though we're tossing them in to a truck and shipping them out without a body bag.

Biffbradford · Feb 28, 2011

Oh! My manager would have a fit if she saw the towels I tucked in there next to the leaking chest tube holes, PLUS a clean gown? Heavens to Murgatroyd!

MaryAnn_RN · Feb 28, 2011

I've never sent anyone to the mortuary naked and would refuse to do so. We put the deceased into a shroud, then wrap in a sheet, and another draped over to cover all. If the body is leaky then we use a body bag.

evolvingrn, BSN, RN · Feb 28, 2011

Family is often in the room when we place the pt in the body bag, We actually have a ceremony of sorts. Sometimes family uses their own clothes somtimes a gown but they always where clothing. There is something very undignified by that.

MunoRN, RN · Feb 28, 2011

Personally my own preference is to leave me naked. I don't really see anything dignified about a hospital gown.

I came into this world naked, I'm leaving it naked (or at least going to the morgue naked).

tablefor9, RN · Feb 28, 2011

For our adults, we wrap without a gown. For our babies, we swaddle them in a blanket, then wrap.

CaregiverGrace · Feb 28, 2011

Nothing wrong with sending the deceased covered simply with the body bag. Never heard of it being done that way for financial reasons, but practical ones.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Feb 28, 2011

I had a death the other night, and found out that our new policy to save $ on linens is to bag the bodies naked. I flat out refused.
I know she was dead, so it shouldn't really matter whether she had a gown on or not, but it just seemed indecent to me. There was no way I was putting her into a plastic bag without being covered.
I was just curios if other facilities do this...and does it bother most people or am I just being weird?

I don't see anything "indecent" about a naked body, but I can respect your feelings about this. We all have different philosophies on death and the issues surrounding it.

Ultimately, the patient's family will likely never know, so at least no one is being "hurt" by this. The funeral home will certainly disrobe the patient to work on him/her.

steelcityrn, RN · Feb 28, 2011

Yes, I agree with most of the others. Thats a disrespectful way to treat a person or family member.