Do you bag your bodies naked?

[mama_d]

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?

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

At the facility I worked at during my first pregnancy, linens were left on for family, and when the funeral home came to retrieve the body, the linens were bagged and returned to us (this was a small town/small hospital).

Same here - which is why I was surprised about this thread.

As to not using gowns due to cost, I looked up some different companies and the lowest price I found was $9 per gown. That's not inexpensive, depending on how many deaths.

I'm in hospice now - most of the time family members want to dress the deceased in clothes they pick out. Just a few days ago, the kids kinda argued about which lovely purple outfit to dress mom in (purple was her favorite color). Plus the jewelry too.

In the hospital, we always send the bodies out in a hospital gown but we always get the gowns back.

steph

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

Funny Story here- a little off topic I know, but whatever.

We brought a nice outfit for the mortician to put on my Mom before she was cremated. She never wanted a viewing, so it didn't really matter what she wore but I knew she would want to look nice. And she did. My brother and I got to see her before she was sent whereever.

Anyway, when we got there, the Mortian hands us a pair of sunglasses and said "these were in the pocket of her jacket. I'm not sure if you wanted me to put them on her or what?". My brother and I started laughing and my brother said "Yeah, just in case the light was too bright". My Father is standing there saying "I've been looking for those for weeks". My Mother had Dementia problems and tended to "put things away safe" and of course, we could never find them again.

Anyway, when I think of my Mom, I see her dressed up nicely. She would never leave the house without looking "nice". And I'd like to think that her final trip from the hospital bed to the funeral home was made clothed - if only in gown - and looking "nice".

Oh dear. Meant this to be lighthearted but now I'm crying.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that a gown may now really be much, but it permits the deceased to be dignified to the end.

[sharpeimom]

my grandma left the nursing home for the funeral home freshly bathed, wearing one of her own yellow nighties and a matching robe. the funeral home actually returned them to my mom later, washed, ironed

and folded.

the same funeral home took my mom from her home wearing her own nightie. my six foot tall mom weighed 72# after her battle with cancer.

my healthy robust 52 year old father dropped dead at a meeting and he was taken to the er, where he was pronounced. he arrived at the funeral home wearing his 3 piece suit and even his vest had been carefully rebuttoned. the funeral director and his wife were friends of my parents and the fd commented much later that he had never seen that before.

i put tiny figurines of a siamese cat and a basset hound in his suit pocket to represent our pets and he was buried with them. he was buried and when my mom died, her ashes were interred inside his casket.

they were so devoted in life that doing that just seemed natural.

[evilolive, BSN, RN]

I had a death the other night, and despite performing post-mortem care countless times, I still print out my hospital's procedure for care. It tells us to gown the patient. Basic dignity. If the morgue needs to disrobe the patient, they will. The funeral home should have no problem unsnapping a gown when performing their care on the individual.

[Valhalla_Pure]

I always wash the patient, and put a clean gown on if their current one is soiled. I never place them in a bag without some form of covering. It just wouldn't seem right to me.

[creativemom, BSN, RN]

It's typical procedure. Perhaps if you understood what happened to a dead body you'd realize that you're doing the dead body a disservice.

If there is a death during an operation there will be a coroners report due. So having clothing on a body will hamper with the coroner's job thus making it take longer and/or when you have to move the body to take off the cut clothing it may move the interior parts thus hampering with investigations so I've been told by their offices.

Another reason is that the body (if it goes to a funeral parlor) will have to be drained and a lot of work will be put into the body to preserve it for viewing.

So the best thing you can do for a dead body is to wash the outer parts carefully, comb the hairs in place and clean the hands very well then cover with clean sheets above and below it.

[Bruce_Wayne, ASN, RN]

At the last hospital I worked at we put a paper gown on them, where I work now we just leave their regular gown on them.

I wouldn't do the naked thing either, if anything I'd put an isolation gown on them. Or something.

[lamazeteacher]

how many times have you been put in a body bag? what did it feel like being naked in there? just kidding. lol

This is the ultimate identification with patients!

I agree, naked we come into this world and naked we leave it. (No disrespect meant).

I recall a student from a prenatal class exclaim, "How could dying be less beautiful than birth? After seeing my baby born, I no longer fear death".

Respect is shown in many ways, and by a body being wrapped naked,

shows no disrespect. Now getting all huffy about it and making a huge

issue is disrespectful! How would you like having discontent surround

you, upon your death?

I doubt that any hospital would send a message

out saying "in financial concern, do not dress dead bodies in our shirts"

so probably some disgruntled individual started that rumor. Sad!

It is simply expedient.

[brillohead, ADN, RN]

Furthermore, I avoid doing anything based on the notion that "no one will ever know, therefore it doesn't matter", as you could replace bagging someone naked with any number of unfavorable actions.

This. Oh, if only more of the world felt this way!

As a student nurse, I've not yet been involved in post-mortem care. However, to me it seems most appropriate to do what the client / family would want done first. If there is no stated or implied* preference from them, my next guidance would be my own heart -- what do *I* feel is respectful and appropriate. I'm the one who is going to have the memory of this person's last moments in my facility, not some bean-counter in an off-site management office.

*--if you've cared for the person, you have a general idea of their comfort level even if nothing is explicitly stated... for example, I know my MIL would be horrified at the thought of being laid out naked on a bed for the whole world to see, but DH wouldn't give a crap one way or the other.

[Overland1, RN]

Whenever we are placing a body into a bag, we all concur that "clothing on" is the best way; that, as Martha would say, is a good thing.

As for the body, a clean gown is placed on the patient.

Somebody had to say it.

[mx343mom]

I think it is horrible to not atleast cover the deceased with gown prior to placing them in a body bag. I don't care if the person is not alive.. this shows a complete lack of respect and loss of dignity to the person. Think of one of your loves ones in a body bag with nothing at all covering them and watching them being carried out in a body bag..it is for lack of a better word MORTIFYING! When my father died was horrified by the thought of him being put into a body bag. BUT.. the staff at the nursing home did such a wonderful job. They bathed him, redressed him placed the towels under his chin and neck etc and made him look so peaceful before the funeral director came. The funeral directors happen to be friends of the family and I remember crying so hard about the thought of them having to put him in a body bag.. it was such a final and terrifying thing thinking of MY DADDY.. the greatest man I ever knew.. being put into a body bag! oh the pain! but now that you all are talking about this the thought that someone would have just shoved him in there naked..OMG its torture! Think of your daddy in there naked! Cover that person up.. someone loved them and they have there dignity.. even when they are in a body bag and going off to have an autopsy or be embalmed or the funeral home is supposed to be preparing them for the family to see.. let them have their dignity!

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

Our policy is also to bag bodies naked. I also refuse to. No one has ever said anything to me about it. There is no way I could do that to anyone.