Hi Jo Anne, Let me try to answer your questions one by one. Since I’m not sure what state the person lives in, I can’t tell you what paperwork is required for a family-directed funeral. In most states, you need a death certificate signed by the attending physician, you need to file it with the health dept., and you need to get a burial/transit/cremation permit from the health dept. If you tell me the state, I can be more specific. You wrote: “Now, upon death, after EMT determines death has occurred, 2)is body transported to a hospital for examining?” REPLY: You really shouldn’t be calling 911 and the EMTs unless it’s an emergency (which death is not – EMTs are expensive and they shouldn’t be tied up with death calls). If the death is expected (old age, long illness), you don’t need to call the police or the medical examiner. If the person was under a doctor’s care, alert the doctor and arrange to have the doctor fill out the death certificate. If the person is in hospice or a hospital, there is also no need to call the police or ambulance. If the death is unexpected or in any way unusual, then yes, you should call the police. But don’t call 911 for a routine death, or the EMTs may try to resuscitate the person and bring him to the hospital. Unpleasant an unnecessary. No, routine deaths don’t go to the hospital for “examination.” If the death is suspicious, the medical examiner would have control of the body for investigation. You wrote: “can the family go directly to a crematorium for cremation after the hospital, then receive the ashes and send to Arlington or other cemetery?” REPLY: In most states, it’s perfectly legal to transport the body yourself, as long as the death cert. and burial transit permit are completed. In some states, crematories are separate from funeral homes and they do business directly with the public. In other states, funeral homes own the crematories. In still other situations, crematories do business only for funeral directors. I can’t advise you unless I know what state you’re in. You wrote: “4) In talking with the Arlington Cemetery staff that the funeral home will handle everything, but this is if we use a funeral home, I guess. ” REPLY: Yes. In this case, “funeral home” would also refer to any cremation business that you’ve contracted with. I see nothing to stop you from bringing the ashes to Arlington yourself, however, unless they’ve got picky rules about working directly with families. Best to ask the Arlington staff. You wrote: “And, does our counties have information sheets or booklets of things they require family to do before issuing a death certificate.” Unfortunately, most states and counties don’t have this helpful information in an easy format. We can tell you what you need though, once we know what state you’re in. Best, Josh Slocum FCA Executive Director
