What To Do With the Body?

Ken

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Jan 1, 2002
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I don't recall this topic being discussed before on dr1.

Sooner or later for all of us, there comes a time when our body is an empty shell. So what to do with it. For many people there is a funeral, a burial (or ashes in an urn) in an area we consider home.

But what if you are an expatriate living in the Dominican Republic? Shipping the body back to their home area is a possibility, but this is very expensive, costing thousands of dollars, and the survivors may well need the money for other things. Also, where to send it? For many expatriates, there no longer is a particular place that they consider to be "home", and their family is scattered. Cremation is apparently not yet an option in the DR, at least when a friend of mine who wanted his ashes scattered on the Bay of Samana died, it was necessary to send his body to Puerto Rico for cremation. A very expensive process with much red tape. And being put in a wooden box, driven through the streets on the back of a pickup truck and buried within 24 hours as is the practice in the DR is also not a good option for an expat far from family and without enough friends to make a respectable funeral parade.

While I was living in Samana, a friend, who was in his 70s and had a bad heart, answered the question by giving his body to a medical school for use as a cadavar. He contacted a medical school, made an agreement, and had it notarized at the American Embassy in Santo Domingo. The day he died, a friend called the medical school, which sent a truck to pick up the body. To me, that seemed like a pretty good option for an expatriate pondering the question of what to do with the body after death.

I have also wondered whether there is need in the DR for bodies that can be stripped of parts that might be of use by others. The trade off would be that when all the usable parts had been removed that what was left would be buried or otherwise disposed of by the medical facility taking the parts.

What do those of you with knowledge of medical needs and practices in the DR think of these two options? Is one better than the other? How would an expat considering one or the other go about arranging it?

Is there a better option than any of those mentioned?
 
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Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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I don't know the answers, but in my more morbid moments I too have pondered this issue. In my case, I would not want a religious burial of any sort, but can see that here there is no alternative except for perhaps the medical one Ken mentions. If the option existed I too would opt for cremation with a secular service. So I'll be reading people's replies with interest in case there are more options than I am aware of. Then I'll go down to the lawyers and put the instructions in a will!

Chiri
 

Pib

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Jan 1, 2002
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After attending a funeral yesterday I too pondered the miracle of life, the misteries of beyond and what I want for whem I am stiff... thankfully it didn't last long, they were serving coffee and that was more important that the things in my mind.

Anyhoo, I have to agree with Chiri's choice, but I am sure nobody will pay attention to my opinion and go ahead and do whatever they want with my remains. Funerals are another social occasion (as in meet THE WHOLE family, grieve together thing). I will just play along and lie still.
 

Eddy

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Jan 1, 2002
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I see a business opportunity for someone here. Set up the services (Burial, cremation etc. ) "Pre-paid" with the money in a trust account. Arrangements with Embassies, Insurance Companies etc. I'm too old. I would probably be my first client. Come on you young entrepreneurs.
 

Tony C

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Jan 1, 2002
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For me organ donation is not an option until they start paying for it. Why should I let people profit from my misfortune. Doctors, Hospitals, labs all make money from transplants but for somereason people think it is morally wrong to be allowed to get piece of the pie.
Cremation is available in SD. I guess they robbed that guy even when he was dead
 

Pib

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Jan 1, 2002
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Cremation IS NOT available here. Funeraria Blandino sends your remains to another country for cremation. There's a lawsuit pending for some remains that the airline lost and never came back.

Cremation is cool but expensive, and a waste of energy. Organ donation is out of the question. I don't have anything that could be used once I am out of this package. Throwing me out in the sea sounds cool but I am afraid they'll just think (or confirm) I was crazy... I know I'll have to share a tiny house with my whole family for eternity... it sounds scary somehow.
 

AnnaC

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Jan 2, 2002
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I told my kids that I want to be cremated right away. No long drawn out thingy. My daughter jumped up and said " and I suppose you want me to fly to the Dominican Republic and scatter your ashes over the sea" "Hey, what a great idea"! I said

Edited to add: by "right away" I mean when I die not at this very moment! hehehehe... didn't sound right after reading it.
 
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Dec 9, 2002
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I live in England right now, and once considered leaving my body to medical science (assuming that they would want it, of course hahaha), but over here there was so much red tape for your loved ones to go through immediately after your death that I gave it up as a bad idea.

I am hoping to be living in DR in the not too distant future, but I have to admint that dying over there is not something I have ever considered in my plans, although it's gonna happen one day. But you know, when you're living in the rat race, stuff like that seems important. I'd like to think that when I'm living the life over there it won't matter to me what happens to my body after I die. But I suppose at the end of the day, we all have to consider who we might leave behind and how they will deal with it.

God, it's a morbid subject for a cold and wet Wednesday afternoon. I need some sunshine .... 14 weeks and counting!
 

RandyE

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Feb 4, 2002
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What will they do with Hippo? The brain doesn't work , he doesn't have a heart, and every time the mouth opens shit comes out. No useful organs there.
 

lhtown

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Jan 8, 2002
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The original question is quite morbid, but also very valid for many of us. Our mission organization nicely includes a US$10,000 life insurance policy with our medical insurance that presumable would be used to relieve them of any liabilities in shipping our body home. Fortunately, I haven't had to cash in on it just yet. For those expats who just work a few years overseas, it seems that preparing a small life insurance policy to cover the expenses(although payoff might come a bit late for the plane ticket and funeral), would be the best way- particularly for those with strong ties to home. Pre-planning has become an option with many funeral homes. Also, you can buy your plot in the cemetery at home to alleviate your loved ones of the difficulty. After all, you are planning to for them since you will be quite dead and departed from your body. For one who was to be buried here in the DR, it seems that it would be very important to properly document his death to execute the will and recieve any life insurance. I am no lawyer, but I am sure that proof of death is quite important in such affairs. I would think that it would be automatically taken care of by a funeral director. For those who have strong ties to this country or no ties to any country, it seems to me that burial here is a very valid and much cheaper option. It would be wise to plan ahead though if that is what you are planning. When your long lost great aunt hears that you are to be buried in this far-away god-forsaken country, she might just ship you home thinking it was surely what you wanted!
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Realistic alternatives

The Dominican way of dying, which I attended last week too, Pib, is one of the easier ways to go. Everyone that cares about you goes to the funeral home and crys and tells jokes about you, you have a mass, and then off to the cemetary, all in 24-30 hours. It is intense, but thankfully brief.
What to do.
1) Get a plot. this can be done through the local municiapl government.
2) Get it fixed up. Erect a modest set of niches.
3) Go to Blandino and buy a modest funeral, pre-paid, pick out your final resting place, and make your desires known.
4) Put all this in an envelope and leave it for your folks.

Or, leave it all up to Blandino the day it happens....

HB