Pre and Post Embalming Decedent Care & Monitoring, Our Duty and Potential Liability

With more families delaying giving permission to embalm, selecting cremation that does not require embalming, and funeral homes that no longer embalm as soon as permission is given, there is an increase in potential danger of the decedent destabilizing while in the funeral homes care.  Likewise, delay between embalming and disposition, especially due to military burials, can extend the holding time inside the funeral home for many months.  It is of the utmost importance that funeral professionals and funeral homes revisit these core principles of decedent care and monitoring to ensure that the highest quality of care is provided to families who select and pay for the funeral professional’s services.  Sadly, litigation has resulted from failures to follow these standards of care. Examples of legal cases will be provided.

This one-hour seminar is to gently remind all of us, as licensed embalmers, of our duty of care and the landmine of liability that exists when standards are not followed.  A brief overview of the following will be covered during the seminar:

1. 1. Failure to properly identify the deceased.
   2. Failure to refrigerate or embalm in a legal or reasonable time to maintain viewability of the deceased.
   3. Failure to provide legally required mortuary-grade refrigeration, not room or building air conditioners, when necessary.
   4. Failure to maintain the equipment.
   5. Failure to recognize conditions that necessitate immediate treatment.
   6. Failure to monitor the deceased.
   7. Failure to use and properly document decedent case reports.