Unable to afford a burial, this mother's grief is compounded with her daughter lying in a freezer
Unable to afford a burial, this mother's grief is compounded with her daughter lying in a freezer
A grieving mother says her daughter is one of dozens of bodies being stored in Newfoundland and Labrador's largest hospital, lying unclaimed and prolonging the pain her family is going through.
Janice Strickland said the high cost of funerals and government inaction is what's keeping her daughter in a freezer unit and not buried.
In March, CBC News reported 28 bodies were being stored in freezer units outside the Health Sciences Centre due to a lack of space in the morgue, which doubles as the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Newfoundland and Labrador families on income support can apply for provincial government assistance for up to $2,338 to help with cremation or burial costs, but that figure hasn't changed in nearly two decades.
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I used to be a funeral director in Ontario. This situation is unfortunately not uncommon. At least once a month I'd have a family that couldn't afford even the cheapest option ($3,500 at my last place). Local social services offices would cover the cost but only if the deceased was a recipient of local social services which, in my area, did not serve anyone over 65. That meant anyone who died after 65 automatically did not qualify for benefits. You're fault for living old!
The most common solution was for the family to leave the body unclaimed. The coroners office would eventually get around to writing a warrant to bury an unclaimed body. We would take that warrant to the local social services office who would then pay for the cost of burial.
Do you see the issue? Social services wouldn't pay for a burial unless the family left the body unclaimed, in which case, they would then pay for a burial. Not only does this cause extra pain and suffering, since the family no longer has a say in when and where their loved one is burried, it's even more of a tax burden to do it that way because the coroner's office needs to get involved.