There is a surging number of unclaimed bodies that is costing Government more than $70 000 monthly to keep in storage as neither family, friends nor good Samaritans have turned up to bury their “loved ones”.
The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) has had 68 bodies in storage for a while, in one case since 2019 and in another from 2022.
Among the dead are some who have met a violent end and one who died after falling from a building where he had sought refuge for the night.
The bodies – 56 males and 12 females – are either in the morgue of the hospital or in the freezers of Two Sons Funeral Home or Lyndhurst Funeral Home, the two companies contracted by QEH for storage after its own morgue’s 35-body capacity was overwhelmed by the numbers, while coping with the normal day-to-day incoming bodies.
Minister of Health and Wellness The Most Honourable Senator Dr Jerome Walcott confirmed the numbers to the Weekend Nation, stating that the sums of $45 000 and $36 000 were being paid monthly to the funeral homes. That is based on a daily rate of $40.
He acknowledged that among the increasing number of those who remained without a timely and dignified farewell were one or two from the homeless community and relatives of those who could not undertake the financial burden of a funeral service.
There might be others estranged in life from indifferent family members unwilling to step forward and claim them in death; or others who led such an isolated existence that relatives might not have realised they passed.
Walcott explained that new legislation, through an amendment to the Health Services Act, is coming for a national disposal regulation, with the QEH taking charge of the bodies and disposing of them. The Cabinet Paper on the matter, he said, had been approved and was with the Chief Parliamentary Counsel’s office.
“It is a simple amendment to the Health Services [Act] where they would insert the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and after a fixed period of time and the body remains unclaimed, the QEH will have the right to dispose of the body, preferably through cremation,” Walcott stated.
In the past, people left unclaimed were given what was described as a “pauper’s burial” by the state which was an unannounced bare-bones service and interment. Through the National Insurance and Social Security Service there’s a $2 185 funeral grant but that does not apply to people eligible for non-contributory pension.
Walcott explained that under the present system, the National Assistance Board was responsible for seeing after the burial, noting that lengthy process included advertising and a waiting period. He said that sometimes people forgot about the dead because the hospital had them and they would say they did not have the funds.
Hospital officials said where possible the next of kin was informed and given every opportunity to collect their “loved ones” but for many of the bodies in storage, information on birth, addresses and next of kin was missing and sometimes even their names. Usually, anyone claiming bodies are asked to pay the storage charge before the body is turned over, which was also a deterrent to having the dead claimed.
Funeral expenses, even with the bare minimum, could run into thousands of dollars even for a basic package. The list could include the type of casket, usually with the basic coffin hovering around $2 500, mortuary services, storage of the body, transport to the grave, carpet and lowering devices, a tent, obit on radio and newspaper, condolence book, floral arrangements and hymn sheets.
