Values
At end-of-life bodies might be cared for by families, friends, peers, and midwives. This might include people from one's chosen care team working in collaboration with medical care, or other organizations or institutions.
What is...
community death care
A place outside the home for the preparation of dead bodies. This place facilitates viewing of remains, ceremonies, and final disposition.
What is… a funeral establishment
The final step in after-death care where the remains of the deceased are either buried in the ground or entered into a cremation retort.
What is…
disposition
A system of assigning value to people's bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas, including (not only) normalcy, productivity, desirability, intelligence, and fitness.
What is...
ableism
There is no national accredited certifying board for home funeral guides, peer care takers, or doulas. When a person completes a course of study one might receive this document or non-regulated recognition.
What is…
certification, certificate of completion
A voluntary agreement made without coercion between persons with decision-making capacity (knowledge, understanding, and autonomy).
What is…
consent
This act which went into effect on March 5, 2009 in WA State, allows terminally ill adults seeking to end their life to request lethal doses of medication from medical and osteopathic physicians.
What is… the Washington Death with Dignity Act, Initiative 1000, codified as Chapter 70.245 RCW
This practice of chemical preservation to slow decomposition and sometimes aid in cosmetic reconstruction.
What is…
embalming
One who works with the dying person and their supports to accompany them throughout the death experience; (examples: planning & paperwork, facilitates after-death care, nonmedical needs, etc).
Who is…
a death doula (end-of-life doula, death guide, care worker, death midwife etc.)
Advocates found this organization to protect consumers rights to choose affordable and dignified death care and funerals.
Who is… the funeral consumers alliance
The right each person has to decide what happens to one’s own body, mind, and spirit.
What is…
autonomy
The place where the deceased are kept temporarily. This term, first recorded in 1865, was a euphemism for the earlier English term "deadhouse".
What is…
mortuary, or morgue
This is where flame cremation takes place.
What is…
crematory (crematorium, cremator, or retort)
Sings to people on the close to dying & offer music to soothe, reassure, or accompany the dying, their family, friends, and caregivers.
What is…
Threshold Choir
This U.S. government organization created a federal rule in 1984 to address price gouging and unethical behavior through trade regulations for the funeral industry.
Who is… the federal trade commission
Taking responsibility for one's own choice and for the consequences of that choice.
What is…
accountability
With this legal choice, an individual deliberately chooses to stop eating and drinking in order to hasten death, sometimes referred to as end-of-life fasting or terminal fasting.
What is…
Voluntary Stopping Eating & Drinking (VSED)
Environmentally-responsible death care practices, that may include organic, noninvasive preservation techniques of the body; use of locally sourced materials.
What is…
green burial (natural or organic burial)
Community-directed after-death care from the time of death through final disposition in the home, includes chosen care teams, may or may not include a vigil, ceremony, or memorial service.
What is…
home funeral
This trained medical professional will perform autopsies and review forensic evidence to make determinations about a person's cause or manner of death. In some places, this is an elected or appointed government position.
Who is… the
medical examiner
aware of and responding to one's surroundings;
a personal sense of the moral content of one's own conduct, intentions, or character;
done or acting with critical awareness;
perceiving, noticing
What is...
conscious
A now-obsolete medical theory that that diseases and epidemics were caused by a pollution emanating from rotting organic matter or dead bodies.
What is…
Miasma Theory
The time of sitting with the body between death and final disposition.
What is…
vigil (lying-in-honor, visitation, etc)
While health care workers are on the front lines, these people play an important part behind the scenes. The contributions are essential for documenting, tracking mortality rates, disposition of remains, memorials, and helping grieving people after a death occurs.
Who are…
last responders
These two U.S. based organizations promote professionalization of funerary care based on a medical model followed by licensure and regulation.
Who is… the National Funeral Directors Association and the National Association of Funeral Directors