Do not speak of me in that tone of voice.

To say that I was furious about the Dispatches 'Undercover Undertaker' programme last night is an overstatement. 

I was very excited to see what scandalous operations were secretly filmed and hopeful of them ensuring regulatory changes were to be made in the funeral industry.   It was all a bit of a let down to be honest.  

The programme showed secret filming of a warehouse which housed a mortuary racking system - where deceased were kept prior to being embalmed, coffined, and returned to the local funeral home and where the fleet of vehicles were kept along with a large supply of coffins.   The programme also showed a funeral home manager training his team to not promote the cheaper coffins and not to offer the cheapest funerals.   The 'investigator' also discussed the need for 'hygienic treatment' and its' cost and whether this was a necessity to the client.  They showed through secret filming, how the funeral arranger advised families they needed this treatment as there were to be viewings of the deceased and asked them to sign for permission to carry out this treatment.

I believe your chosen funeral home should house the deceased they are looking after, where possible, for the whole duration of their stay before the funeral.    Your funeral director should not be trying to persuade you into purchasing something you do not need, and that includes a more expensive coffin.  Within every industry there are unscrupulous individuals who are out for every ounce of profit they can make.   Funeral homes need to make a profit to stay in business but whilst doing so they can be clear and honest with their clients, conduct themselves in a manner befitting the trust placed in their laps.

I was very disappointed with the funeral spokesperson as he didn't explain the reasons for hygienic treatment.

He could have said that we try to ensure the best possible experience when saying goodbye and hygienic treatment helps with that.  It also means the persons who need to dress the deceased can do so knowing they aren't going to be covered in faeces, vomit, blood or other body fluids because their embalmer has been in and cleaned everything and disinfected everything and made the deceased look at peace.  He could have asked the reporter if she had seen a deceased person who had been poorly and unable to shave or wash their hair or clean their nails.  Then made her return once they had been embalmed and had their dignity restored for their loved ones last image of them.   Goodness!  Can you tell I am very irritated?   What a complete let down. 

I have no way of letting the public know how I feel.  So here I am letting you all know so you can tell anyone who mentions it to you.   If you have any questions or comments, I would be happy to answer them to the best of my ability here for you.  I feel sorry for the people who have used the funeral home mentioned in the documentary, they possibly feel very let down.   I hope they don't.  Just because there are a few idiot individuals,  the whole company isn't full of them.

Next time I shall try to not rant!   Meanwhile, my colleague has a good blog for you to look at too.