British Expatriate Network

Have you decided what you want done with yourself when you die?

I had filled out the back of my drivers license so that "any needed organs or body parts" be removed from me when I pop it. Though come to think of it, with such advances being made, if I live for another 50 years there most likely won't be much of me left to bury somewhere. Ray Kurzweil seems to think that by then we'll be half bionic anyway. Anyway, I don't have any personal or religious concerns regards how I be buried/cremated/shot into a hooker, so I've two witnesses declare that I be stripped and recycled. Considering the shocking deficit in organ/body part donations I think it's one of things that should be encouraged more.

After they've stripped my body of any useful parts, I don't really care. I suppose being cremated in the hospital morgue is sufficient but I dunno about having a plaque or stone somewhere. I like cemetaries, but I dunno if I want to be symbolically housed in one. Seems pointless to me.

So, what about you? Decided? And are you giving away your bits and bobs to science?

They won't want your body parts if you die here in the US.
Me? Cremate me and throw me where you see fit

I carried a donor card in UK so had no problem ticking the box to have 'Anatomical Donor' added to my US driving license. If someone can make use of what's left of me, that's just fine with me.

Tradition in my family is for cremation - we don't see the point of taking up a space that the living could make better use of.

The first time I got back to UK after I moved here, my sister took me to the crematorium where my grandparents were both cremated. We wandered around for a good hour or so and then, puzzled, I asked her where the commemoration plaque/stone/book entry for Grandma and Grandad was. "Oh," she said, "there isn't one. I just thought you'd like to see where it happened."

???

I favour organ donation followed by cremation of what is left and ashes scattered or buried somewhere in Great Britain. Hubby's family favours burial with full Catholic honours. I have repeatedly told hubby what I'd like done with my mortal remains, but at the end I always say that whatever happens after I am dead, the final decisions rest with the living - and that includes the funeral arrangements. If they want to bury me with full Catholic honours then they are welcome to do that if it will make them happy.

Hubby still won't tell me what he wants, so it'll be cremation and scattering if I have to decide!

I don't care, I'll be dead. If people want my giblets then they can have them.

I kind of feel sorry for the next owner of my kidneys, liver and lungs though, they've already had kind of a hard life.

Donate parts for transplant then cremate and use ashes to make soup

They are not interested in my body parts. Too old.

Cremation but no internment or plaque. Just like my Mum and Dad back in the UK. They had their ashes scattered in the Crematorium garden in Enfield.

I think it is going to depend on how old my children are when the time comes. If they have left home and have families of their own, then I'll encourage them to go with cremation and scattering. However, if they are still relatively young, I think they may prefer having some type of burial (ashes or body) and a gravestone so they have something to visit. Helps with their grieving process.

My aunt left her body for research and they didn't want it - can't remember the reasons why but it had something to do with her body decaying to fast I think because of her being so old.

I wonder if they still want your parts if you've eaten British beef.

My thought exactly. Isn't it true that we can't give blood here if we lived in the UK during the 80s? If our blood isn't good enough then our bits probably won't be either.

They wont want my body parts or organs they are all beat up past there prime .

we have discussed this at length and i got a advanced health care directive somewhere and a living will (needs to be signed ).
The health part talks about life sustaining treatment if im in a coma or iriversable condition etc .. the cost of such treatment would be a heavy if not disasterous burdon on my servivors finances and would be ill advised .

I have requested no religious funeral just a "celebration of life " and have chosen some songs i would like to have played .. if they wish some of my family that do believe can add a few prayers it it gives them peace of mind, but only after my wishes are respected .

cremation will be in a cheap casket *.
The funeral homes still try to sell the serviving relatives a expensive casket and all the trimming that goes with it on the pretect that a cheap one is ..disrepectfull of the deceased , they are amounst the top con artist in the world . caskets can be obtained at coscos and other stores/ wharehouses .


THE FUNERAL RULE

Most funeral providers are professionals who strive to serve their clients' needs and best interests. But some aren't. They may take advantage of their clients through inflated prices, overcharges, double charges or unnecessary services. Fortunately, there's a federal law that makes it easier for you to choose only those goods and services you want or need and to pay only for those you select, whether you are making arrangements pre-need or at need.

The Funeral Rule, enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, requires funeral directors to give you itemized prices in person and, if you ask, over the phone. The Rule also requires funeral directors to give you other information about their goods and services. For example, if you ask about funeral arrangements in person, the funeral home must give you a written price list to keep that shows the goods and services the home offers. If you want to buy a casket or outer burial container, the funeral provider must show you descriptions of the available selections and the prices before actually showing you the caskets.
Many funeral providers offer various "packages" of commonly selected goods and services that make up a funeral. But when you arrange for a funeral, you have the right to buy individual goods and services. That is, you do not have to accept a package that may include items you do not want.

According to the Funeral Rule

* you have the right to choose the funeral goods and services you want (with some exceptions).
* the funeral provider must state this right in writing on the general price list.
* if state or local law requires you to buy any particular item, the funeral provider must disclose it on the price list, with a reference to the specific law.
* the funeral provider may not refuse, or charge a fee, to handle a casket you bought elsewhere.
* a funeral provider that offers cremations must make alternative containers available.

To read the whole articule click below .






http//www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/services/funeral.htm

Cardboard box, under the patio, cheap and cheerfull and I can still keep an eye on everyone,lol.
As for donating organs here! over my dead body! oh hang on.....

It's true about the blood, i would exopect the same would apply ot major organs, maybe they would have corneas or such.
Good luck to 'em, take what they can use and BBQ the rest ( literaly if you like :razz: )

I thought Bens point about children and grieving was a good one, I think the whole point of funerals is for the attendees to see that curtain close or the box lowered in to the whole and then that's it.

How about attending your own wake :shock: , this termianlly Ill guy did, jolly good idea

Michael Moore did this same thing a few years ago in Bravo's "The Awful Truth" for a young guy who was dying because his insurance company would not pay for an operation he needed. They held a full funeral service outside the insurance company's head office, with mourners, a priest, his wife and kids and himself present.

Suffice to say that after the implications had sunk in for the insurance company, they did actually do the right thing and pay for the needed operation.

Take the reusable parts sure. But why cremate? I think I'd make into nice sausage. :lol: