“The 24 Hour Rule”
Many, including those working for hospice, believe there’s a “24 hour rule” after which a body must be in refrigeration or taken from the home. In Oregon, a body may be kept at home until the family is ready to cremate or bury. There is no time limit in Oregon law for a body to lie in honor; one to three days is common. Refrigeration is not necessary: under normal circumstances, a body will keep for that period without odors or significant changes in a 55 to 65-degree room if it has been properly cleaned and prepared. Reduce the room’s temperature by opening the windows or with air conditioning if possible. Placing and periodically replacing dry ice or Techni Ice™ under and over the body will help cool the body if desired.
See “Cooling” section: https://www.oregonfuneral.org/how_to_perform_body_care.html

“You have to hire a funeral home/ mortuary.”
This misconception is reinforced by the common hospice and care facility question, “What funeral home shall we call when death occurs?” Under Oregon law, you are NOT required to hire a funeral home – anyone can perform the functions of a funeral director for family and community members as long as they’re not paid to do so. This after-deathcare includes any of all of the following: bathing/dressing the body, arranging for final disposition, keeping the body at home for vigil/ viewing/ ceremony, transporting the body, and handling all the legal notifications, certification, and permits. The legal term is “person acting as a funeral service practitioner,” defined in ORS 432.005 as “a person other than a funeral service practitioner licensed under ORS 692.045, including but not limited to a relative, friend, or other interested party, who performs the duties of a funeral service practitioner without payment.”
See https://www.oregonfuneral.org/learn_the_law.html

“You have to hire a funeral home to transport a body after death.” OR “You need a transportation permit to bring a deceased loved one home for after-deathcare, from their place of death.”
In Oregon, it is legal for a family member or friend to transport a deceased body. This could include transportation from place of death to place where viewing or ceremony will take place, and transport to final disposition for burial or cremation. Families may bring a body home after a death in a hospital or other institution, including from the Medical Examiner’s office, even before the death certificate has been signed. It is wise to check hospital or care facility body release policies well in advance if possible to ensure a smooth transition. Once the death certificate has been signed, it functions as the burial/transit permit, which is required ONLY for transfer to the place of final disposition. 
See “Moving the Body”: https://www.oregonfuneral.org/how_to_perform_body_care.html

“A Home Funeral takes place in the home and is only for certain kinds of people.”
What’s referred to as a “home funeral” may occur within the family home or not, and is:

• A noncommercial, family-centered response to death that
  • involves the family and its social community in the care and preparation of the body for burial or cremation
  • and/or in planning and carrying out related rituals or ceremonies
  • and/or in the burial or cremation itself
• Differentiated from the institutional funeral by
  • emphasis on minimal, noninvasive care and preparation of the body
  • reliance on the family’s own social networks for assistance and support
  • relative or total absence of commercial funeral providers in its proceedings.

 
Notice all the AND/ORs… this is a continuum and it’s up to each family/community to determine their own configuration of tasks, those handled in-house vs by a paid funeral services provider.
See https://www.oregonfuneral.org/how_to_have_a_home_funeral_in_oregon.html

Earlier this year, we helped produce a free four-part series of educational sessions for the LGBTQ+ community. Hosted by Friendly House of Portland's Elder Pride Services, the sessions were recorded and are now available to watch:

• Part 1: Preparing for Death featuring Evening Star End-of-Life Doula Services and community elder Carol Brownlow
  
• Part 2: The Dying Time featuring Evening Star End-of-Life Doula Services, end of life doula/ educator Jamie Thrower, and hospice/ palliative care nurse practitioner Asher Caldwell
• Part 3: Final Disposition featuring home funeral guide/ community death educator Holly Pruett and funeral directors Patrick Cornelius & Gillian Fitzhugh
• Part 4: Ceremonies of Mourning and Remembrance featuring funeral celebrant Holly Pruett, grief guide Jamie Thrower, and community elder Carol Brownlow
  

For more see our post LGBTQ Death Care: The Appointment of Person Form.

We invited Tamara Ostervoss, Director of the Body Donation Program at Oregon Health & Science University, to provide more information about this method of final disposition and how it can be compatible with family and community-led after-death care. 
​
Whole-body donation is an alternative to a traditional funeral and burial or cremation.  Donating your body or your loved one’s body to a reputable body donation program supports medical education and research after death.  Many people considering this option are unsure of how to plan or what the process may look like.
 

Donating one’s body is a personal decision and there are many different reasons for doing so. Not every body donation program is the same, has the same requirements, or provides the same options for the final disposition of a donor’s body afterward. That’s why it is important to find a program that best fits your personal beliefs and needs.
 
There are two different types of body donation programs, academic and private.  Academic body donation programs are typically affiliated with a university, and are guided by their home university’s missions as well as their ethical requirements. Most academic programs are focused on the education of doctors or other health professionals as well as medical research within their geographical region. Private body donation programs determine their own mission, vision, values and are not associated with a university.

To determine which program is a good fit for your needs, it is important to consider asking the following questions of body donation programs:

• Who benefits from this donation?
• Will the donation be used to make a profit?
• Are there any costs associated with the donation (transportation, death certificate, etc.)?
• What are the requirements to become a donor to their program?
• Where will the donor be used (within the state, nationally, or internationally)?
• Do I have the option for the entire remains to be returned?
• Can they share a list of the different programs or groups to which they provide donors?

 
OHSU’s Body Donation Program is the oldest in Oregon. Every year, the program’s donors support the education and training of approximately 300 OHSU medical, dental, physician assistant and radiation therapy students, as well as 200 OHSU residents and clinicians, and 2,000 students at other trusted Oregon academic institutions that follow OHSU’s strict medical and ethical standards. Students who learn through OHSU’s program are required to attend an orientation, understand their responsibilities when working with donors, and only learn from donors in approved lab spaces with restricted access. Donors who support our program will be a part of education at OHSU for 1-3 years before undergoing final disposition. 
​

by Keelia Carver

​One of the things I like best when talking to people about caring for their own dead is discussing what you are actually paying for when you hire a funeral home’s services.

Because it can be hard to understand what you are actually paying for when you hire a funeral director (it certainly was for me!), it can help to break the list of tasks down and think about specific skills that you probably already have. It makes it possible to say “I choose to do this task.” Or “I don’t want to do this task, I’d rather hire it out.” Similar to when you hire a hair dresser, or tax preparer.

 — by Molly Sirois

Two weeks before my 80 year-old friend died, she had a stroke. She was well-prepared for such an event, having lived with multiple sclerosis for 56 years. Her POLST form was on the front door, her advance directive completed, and her end-of-life affairs in order. Her friends and family knew she didn’t want any life-sustaining intervention, no food, no water. Not even hospice. Several of us had experience caring for others in their last days, and combined with her doctor’s consultation, we knew what to do: make her as comfortable as possible. The mortuary was on notice.

With the creation of this Release of Body Form, St. Charles has ensured there is an easy way for any staff member to help a family take custody of their deceased loved one, whether to prepare them for burial or cremation, transport them, or spend time with them in a home viewing or vigil. Because it is in writing, the knowledge will remain accessible through staff turnover. The formal hospital documentation requirement provides reassurance of propriety for staff who may not be familiar with Oregon families’ right to care for their own dead. It's the much-needed policy document that supplements the  improved family information sheet we celebrated in January.

The new release form and the expanded family information sheet represent marvelous things. These improvements, the result of never dropping the ball and continuing the work on this issue over an 18-month period, shows the longing of the human heart to do right. These changes reflect flexibility in a large bureaucratic institution. They're a tribute to the work of individuals in that institution, individuals who truly want to serve the families of their community. They showcase something that is so hard for us humans: the willingness to recognize a mistake and then do the work to correct it.

May these changes made by St. Charles help mothers, fathers, spouses and children. May they provide an opportunity for those who want to care for their own dead to do so. May they be widely copied by other hospitals and care facilities. May they prevent another situation like ours with Max, where misinformation and default practices kept a family from their child.

While the dominant culture of North America has largely lost touch with family- and community-centered responses to death, there are cultures within the U.S. where these traditions have remained more intact. 

A recent post on the website The Jew School explains, "The chevra kadisha (“Holy Community”) is a geographically-organized group responsible for all Jewish matters pertaining to death, including arranging people to sit with and guard the body (shemira), and preparation of the body for burial (tahara)." 

Giulia Fleishman, a third year rabbinical student, shares her personal journey to joining a chevra kadisha, and participating in her first tahara. She describes tahara as "the loving act of ritually washing a deceased person, clothing them in white garments, and enclosing them in a simple pine casket." Giulia's story describes the process: "As they perform taharah, the members of the chevra kadisha chant prayers that ask forgiveness for any mistakes they might make, as well as lines from The Song of Songs that attest to the deceased’s beauty, even in their present state."

​Read Giulia's full post.