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DODD TOUTS NEED TO STRENGTHEN LAWS GOVERNING FUNERAL INDUSTRY
General Accounting Office Reports States Lag in Enforcement and Inspection of Death Care Industry
Press Release, Office of Senator Christopher Dodd, September 12, 2003
Washington, DC- Responding to a request from Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL), the General Accounting Office (GAO) conducted a study showing that a great variation exists in both the way states regulate various segments of the death care industry and the mechanisms in place to enforce such regulations. Dodd and Foley requested the GAO examination following news of the desecration of graves and human remains uncovered recently around the country, including in Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii and the Tri-State Crematory in Noble, Georgia, where hundreds of bodies meant for cremation were found stored in warehouses and shallow graves.
"It's hard enough for families to deal with the loss of a loved one; they don't deserve to be put through even more grief from over-inflated prices, shoddy services and unmet promises by a few unscrupulous people in this industry," said Dodd. "While most death care providers are decent, hard working people, there are those bad apples in the industry out to make a quick buck. That's why this report is tremendously important. It helps shine a light on an industry that impacts millions of Americans, and will hopefully weed out those bad apples."
Dodd was prompted to act after a shocking revelation that for almost a decade the state of Connecticut had not been conducting routine funeral home inspections, the horrific report of a New Haven mortician's arrest last summer for improperly storing bodies in a garage, and the troubling report a few months ago of alleged unethical business practices and improper burials by a Hartford mortuary.
The report found that third party sales of funeral goods are largely unregulated, that few states require regular cemetery inspections, and that a broad disparity exists among states in their regulation of the death care industry. The report also sites a lack of a means and place of collection for consumer complaints about the death care industry, and, in some cases, reluctance among consumers to report complaints at all.
According to the report, while funeral homes themselves are generally regulated and licensed, other businesses providing death care services such as crematories, cemeteries and funeral goods salesman are not.
Dodd and Foley introduced legislation last year to expand the so-called funeral rule-- which currently only requires the disclosure of goods and services by funeral homes-- to include every business that sells funeral goods or services directly to consumers. It would also provide grants to states to hire and train inspectors, require states receiving these funds to adopt clear standards and license requirements for funeral service providers, and provide additional information to consumers. The lawmakers plan to reintroduce similar legislation this Congress.
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