In L.A. County, bodies go unclaimed as families can't afford funeral costs

The weak economy is taking its toll, with an increasing number of bodies in Los Angeles County being cremated at taxpayers’ expense.

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske

The poor economy is taking a toll even on the dead, with an increasing number of bodies in Los Angeles County going unclaimed by families who cannot afford to bury or cremate their loved ones. At the county coroner’s office — which handles homicides and other suspicious deaths — 36% more cremations were done at taxpayers’ expense in the last fiscal year over the previous year, from 525 to 712. The county morgue, which is responsible for the indigent and others who go unclaimed, saw a 25% increase in cremations in the first half of this year over the same period a year ago, rising to 680 from 545. The demands on the county crematorium have been so high that earlier this year, officials there stopped accepting bodies from the coroner. The coroner’s office since has contracted with two private crematories for $135,000 to handle the overflow. “It’s a pretty dramatic increase,” said Lt. David Smith, a coroner’s investigator. “The families just tell us flat-out they don’t have the money to do a funeral.” … Coroners and funeral directors around the country say they are seeing the same trend as cash-strapped families cope with funeral costs. Just claiming a body from the L.A. County coroner costs $200. Once a body is claimed, private cremations usually run close to $1,000, Smith said. Funeral homes charge an average of $7,300 to transport and bury a body in a simple grave, according to the National Funeral Home Directors Assn. “No one is immune from this,” said Bob Achermann, executive director of the California Funeral Directors Assn. in Sacramento. “The economic malaise we’re in is affecting everybody.” … Smith said that in his dozen years at the coroner’s office, he cannot remember seeing such a high number of families unable to afford the cost of claiming a body. …

More bodies go unclaimed as families can’t afford funeral costs