Funeral Home Workers

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I had a death at my LTC home last night and had to call the funeral home to come pick up the body. When the attendants get there, we don't usually go in to get the body with them but for whatever reason I did last night. I wish I hadn't... They were so rough with the body it was unbelievable. I was absolutely horrified.

They grabbed the person by the wrists and lifted them. Their foot got caught in the bars on the stretcher and they just yanked it out. They almost dropped the body and then just shoved it back onto the stretcher!

I spoke with some of my coworkers and with some of my nurse friends that work LTC more often than I do and they all say this is common with the funeral home workers but I just can't accept that.

I am just so sad for my resident. We spent days providing the best palliative care possible and then after they passed away my RPN and I went in and cleaned them up a little bit out of respect and then these two men come in and literally throw them around...completely unnecessary.

Have you seen this? What would you do? :crying2:

OMG! If anyone had treated my LOLs or LOMs like that I would have been mortified. I also would have stopped them RIGHT AWAY.

A LOM that I had fought very hard to get him transferred to "my" home passed away. I think I may have broke the sound barrier getting to him. I sat with him until family could be there, even while the police and M.E. came and went. He was only with us for a week, but I couldn't even think of being ok with someone manhandeling one of my patients.

Specializes in Home Health.

How absolutely horrible. I don't know that I could have handled what witnessed. You would be right to call the Funeral Home and speak to the director. This is completely unacceptable and disrespectful and could be seen as abuse of a corpse.

My personal experience was horrifying. My 22 year old son was killed in an auto accident 7 years ago. The asst coroner called me and told me that he couldn't get an ambulance to pick up my son's body, so he had to put him in the back of his personal van. I can't tell you what horrors go through my mind on a daily basis. I am lucky to still be able to put one foot in front of the other. It is a good think that when I was told this I pretty much was in shock, but I took notes when speaking to anyone concerning my son's death. Thanks for letting me share this.

How absolutely horrible. I don't know that I could have handled what witnessed. You would be right to call the Funeral Home and speak to the director. This is completely unacceptable and disrespectful and could be seen as abuse of a corpse.

My personal experience was horrifying. My 22 year old son was killed in an auto accident 7 years ago. The asst coroner called me and told me that he couldn't get an ambulance to pick up my son's body, so he had to put him in the back of his personal van. I can't tell you what horrors go through my mind on a daily basis. I am lucky to still be able to put one foot in front of the other. It is a good think that when I was told this I pretty much was in shock, but I took notes when speaking to anyone concerning my son's death. Thanks for letting me share this.

So sorry for your loss and what you went through. The dead should always be treated with respect and dignity.

This has always been my experience. With or without family being at the bedside. The funeral home staff has always been very respectful and dignified.

Wow. Any funeral home people I've come in contact with have always shown the upmost respect. They are usually wearing dark suits (skirts for the women) and always handle the body as if the person were still alive.
Specializes in ICU, ER.

Just a little update - I did call and report this to my DON and to the funeral home. I never heard anything else about it and unfortunately my DON quit shortly after this happened so I don't have any way to follow-up.

Now, I always go in with them to pick up the body. I have not had to deal with that particular funeral home since then, but every other home has been excellent. It still makes me sick to think about this incident, though.

Specializes in LTC, Acute care.

How appalling! I have seen funeral homes pick up deceased patients but I have never seen what you described, that was so wrong of them. The ones I've seen always come dressed formally and always pick up the person ever so gently, almost as if they were still alive.

The guys you described need another job, IMHO.

They probably should have been more sensitive because you were there but its something they do all the time so you must also understand how they do their work.

Please help us understand their work as you see it. This was once someone's mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, etc., they are not meant to be treated as a piece of trash or someone's garbage. They are paid to do a job, if they are unable to do their job and I am sure their job description does not say treat the dead like you are taking out the garbage, then look for a job in a landfill. You are the one who is not sensitive.

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I too have heard horror stories like this one before, but fortunately for all involved I've never personally witnessed such a thing.

Maybe it's because I've ALWAYS made it a priority to be in the room when a deceased patient is picked up by the funeral home or coroner; and on the rare occasions when I can't be physically present, I designate a caregiver to be there so that I know the person's dignity is maintained. It's not that I don't trust the mortuary personnel to do right by the patient, I just have to see that he or she is handled gently and not slung around like a sack of onions! Like another member said, a body once housed the soul of someone's spouse, someone's relative, someone's friend; as such, it deserves to be treated with the utmost respect.

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