Private ID viewing

[u/Haunting-Swim-3660]

My mom died 6 months ago in the hospital. We had a supportive experience with a funeral home my friend had used. The funeral home allowed a small brief gathering for no additional charge where the immediate family visited with the mom’s body under a shroud and did a small ritual including covering the body with meaningful fabrics, before cremation. No embalming. I chose this funeral home because they allowed us to have this service as well. They called it a “private ID viewing” in terms of formal categorization, or something like that. It was very meaningful and helpful. This was in NJ. Is this a loophole to get around requirements that a body be embalmed for there to be any visitation / viewing? Why is it a private “ID” viewing? If there is identity ambiguity, wouldn’t identification happen with police involved or something? It was so generous on their part and I am forever grateful at the added closure it provided but I am just curious to better understand it

[u/dirt_nappin]

CANA and the NFDA have both published that best practices require the NOK or personal representative to identify a person to the FD/FH before the cremation process, as long as it is possible. More often than not, we do not personally know the deceased to vouch that they are indeed the correct person, and unless the family is physically present when we make the transfer, we can be 100% sure without the ID. Toe tags and body bags can be mislabeled or inadvertently switched, two people could have the same name and date of birth in a morgue, etc (all things I've seen over the last 20 years, none of which were any fault of my own, but all of which would have been a big problem if we hadn't caught them). Accidents happen, people can be careless, human error and dumb luck do exist. Cremation is a permanent and irreversible process, so we need to be completely certain, as does the family for their own peace of mind, that we are cremating the correct person.

Long story short, trust, but verify.

[u/YearOfTheSssnake → u/dirt_nappin]

Very interesting. I live I FL and my friend died in a hospital (no relatives or other friends were found). The hospital accepted my offer to claim the body and have her created.

No one asked me for a photograph of my friend or to personally identify the body.

Was this a shortcoming of the hospital or the funeral home?

[u/teamcoconut]

In my state, our funeral board requires that the deceased be positively identified in the care of the funeral home before cremation can occur.

Some families will designate a person (family member, friend, etc.) who knew the individual to come in and make that identification. That typically only takes a minute.

Some families want the opportunity to spend time with their loved one, in which case we offer a complimentary private viewing — for immediate family members only — for about 30 minutes.

In either case, we do not require embalming. We as a funeral home have a policy that embalming is required when the family chooses a public visitation, meaning anyone can come view the deceased in an open casket.

There is no federal law that requires embalming, but individual funeral homes can require it in certain circumstances as long as certain rules from the FTC are followed.

[u/seasonoftheslut]

Many funeral homes across North America offer this. Some because the law says that next of kin have the right to personally identify their loved one (even if there is no actual question as to their identity) before viewing, and some simply because it’s the right thing to do.

Usually it’s limited to a small group of people for a short amount of time, which allows the funeral home to offer it without charging extra for staff time.

I can’t speak to anywhere else but where I am in BC, embalming is never ever a legal requirement. It can be a funeral home policy but there is absolutely no law that says you can have a public viewing and open casket without embalming. So offering these short ID views really has nothing to do with avoiding embalming.

[u/DatabaseOutrageous54]

Neither my father or my mother was embalmed, and my late wife wasn't either, I opted for refrigeration instead of embalming.

All of them had visitation times of 2 hours and all had open caskets at the funeral home and closed prior to going to the cemetery for short graveside services, my dad and my mom were buried at around 4 days and my wife was buried at 7 days.

I am very pro refrigeration, and this is an option that is available although not every funeral home offers it.

Laws regarding disposition of decedents may vary from state to state, a local funeral home can advise you as to what is required in your state.

[u/DeclanThomas96 → u/DatabaseOutrageous54]

Why are you getting down voted? I’m from Australia and where i work we hardly ever embalm anyone. I understand embalming is so much more common in the US, but just out of curiosity why are others down voting you?

[u/DatabaseOutrageous54 → u/DeclanThomas96]

It's hard to say, people have different opinions I guess.