Stewart Enterprises Inc , ( NYSE: STEI) and the Funeral Consumers Alliance (FCA) have settled a lawsuit from 2005 in an undisclosed settlement.
Stewart Enterprises is simply now complying with the funeral rule and accepting third party caskets.
JEFFERSON, La. and NEW YORK, June 15, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Stewart Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq:STEI), Funeral Consumers Alliance, Inc. (FCA), and their respective counsel today jointly announced that Stewart and FCA have entered into a confidential Settlement Agreement ending a lawsuit filed by FCA and several individuals in 2005. The settlement provides for dismissal with prejudice of all claims filed by the plaintiffs without any finding or admission of liability or wrongdoing by any party…..
“Plaintiffs brought this lawsuit to ensure, among other things, that funeral homes are honoring consumer rights with respect to casket purchases. We believe that Stewart has clearly demonstrated a commitment to apply the same standards to caskets purchased from other sellers as it does to its own merchandise.”
National Funeral Home in Falls Church Virginia has been fined for Their part in Veterans Corpse Abuse SCI Scandal of 2009. This was were veterans bodies were left to rot in the garage while waiting for burial at Arlington National Cemetery.
Service Corporation International Dignity Logo
Employees at the funeral home raised concerns last year that hundreds of bodies were being mishandled at the facility. A Washington Post article in April 2009 detailed allegations that bodies had been left on hazardous-materials boxes and makeshift gurneys; deceased veterans were placed on garage racks for months while awaiting burial at Arlington National Cemetery; and some bodies were left exposed and leaking fluids.
A fine of $50,000 USD is but a swat at a mosquito for the World’s Largest Funeral Corporation, NYSE:SCI, Service Corporation International. Unannounced inspections should be happening in Virginia anyway.
National Funeral Home and the Virginia Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers signed a consent order this week in which the Falls Church facility agreed to two years of probation, a $50,000 fine and six unannounced inspections each year. A two-year suspension was imposed but immediately stayed. It could take effect if the funeral home is found to have any violations in the next two years.
This week I ran into the situation where my pharmacist could have easily caused my death and Funeral. The “sudden death” funeral scenario is quite horrific as i had recently looked at it first hand.
The Funeral Surprise of “Sudden Death” shocks. Last week a friend’s son died suddenly . This was the cause of great grief for the friend. It shocked me to see her fleeced by the funeral home, and the cemetery. Because I helped with funeral, i felt the hurt firsthand. These things are covered in Your Funeral Guy blogs quite often. I am afraid that the friend’s grief will be compounded by the Funeral Cost. The cause of death of the young man was not directly apparent.
Then This week I realized that your FRIENDLY local pharmacist carelessness could easily kill you and CAUSE YOUR SUDDEN DEATH AND FUNERAL and no one might ever find out.
“On 6/15/2010 i received a phone call from Ms.Pharmacist at the “Walgreens Pharmacy” at Main Street in Specific Town that there may be wrong pills in my Perscription xxxxxxxx-xxxx. I was told that the correct pills would be labeled “YVWXWZ” with a line cut on the bottom of the pill.
There were two pills with the prescription Inscription “AB with no cut on the bottom of the pill. ( real prescription lettering withheld)
“On 6/16 2010 i brought the pills to the pharmacy. Pharmacist, (Name withheld) took these pills from me, glanced at the pills and said the pills were all the same. I said no, he said yes. I told PHARMACIST (Licensee XXXXX) to put the pills in the bottle, he did. I said I will check the pills again.
I proceeded to an unused Cash register. My daughter and I separated the pills once again. I requested that manager be called. A Manager came and and acknowledged the pills were wrong. He said he would rectify the situation by giving me the right pills.
I stated that that would not be good enough for me and that i needed to be assured that some sort of action be taken against the pharmacist who tried get me to walk out with the wrong pills. I view this pharmacy ( SPECIFIC Pharmacist ERROR & unwilling to INVESTIGATE) incompetence as a threat to me and the community.
I Proceeded to the pharmacy and put the pills on the counter, very upset.
I walked out of the store, got my cell phone, and returned to call the police in ANYTOWN, USA
The police retrieved the correct pills.-ANY TOWN PD Officer Friendly REPORT- ABC12345678p1011-The recent life experience of your funeral guy
Funeral Industry|Funeral News|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy
It appears that TV actor Gary Coleman may not have a funeral at all. A judge has ordered he be cremated(have a cremation) by today June 16th 2010. Coleman was evidently involved with two women who claim to be the executor of his will.
This is an example of why it is important to preplan(not prepay) your funeral and keep those funeral plans updated when your life situation changes.
Gary Coleman will not be having a funeral, this in accordance to his 2005 will.
An independent attorney was named by a Utah judge to oversee the late actor’s property and his cremation. At this time, Gary Coleman’s body has still not been cremated. Robert Jeffs is the attorney who will be the special administrator of Gary Coleman’s estate due to an ongoing dispute between two women the actor was once involved with.
Gary Coleman’s ex-wife, Shannon Price is claiming that she is the rightful executor of Coleman’s will and is entitled to his property. Now an ex-girlfriend of Coleman’s, Anna Gray, is making the same claim.
Funeral Homes selling Preened as an investment are lying. To prepay a funeral today, “LOCKING IN TODAY’S PRICES FOR YOUR FUNERAL TOMORROW” is a lie. The current economic environment in the world makes that statement a falsehood. No Investment vehicle can be guaranteed that since the Wall Street Crash of September 2008.
Firstly, Prepaid funerals or(preneed) has always been a purchase of funeral goods and services.In the past and many times the funds are placed by the funeral home, funeral director or insurance company in a special bank account.
Depending on the pre need Contract and state regulations the funds used to purchase sometimes can be placed in an investment vehicle. The Track record of indivudual funeral homes and others doing this though is not good.
When this has happened there are examples of bad outcomes—the local funeral home in the news, funeral associations(example- IFDA Illinois Funeral Directors Association preneed trust ponzi scheme) and funeral insurance companies(-Example-NPS-National Prearranged Services)
Funeral industry|Funeral News Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy
Will The cremation of the future Green Cremation be Alkaline Hydrolysis or Cryomation? The next cultural shift in disposing of the dead will be Green Cremation.
There are two processes that are on the horizon one is called Alkaline Hydrolysis, where water pressure heat and alkaline combine to accelerate decomopostion of the body. Ashes are returned to the Family at the end of this process.
The other process Called Cryomation where the body is freeze dried and then broken down into an ash like substance to be returned to the family- Charles Cowling at the Good Funeral Guide has been covering this.
Snippet from the Cryomation website.
The process itself uses Liquid Nitrogen to freeze the body to -196 degrees C until the body is brittle. The body is then fragmented, foreign metal objects removed, and body materials returned to the process. The remains are then freeze dried under a range of vacuumed conditions to remove the moisture. Our process (patent pending) ensures that the final powder is sterile and 100% free of all bacteria & viruses. An accelerated composting process further reduces the mass and means that what is returned can itself, generate and sustain life.
There is a computer graphic video of the process, but no real machine pictured.
The Cryomation Machine has been demonstrated in the UK. The larger resomation machines have been in use in Medical Schools in the US for the disposition of Medical waste and cadavers.
There are 4 players in the world racing to put this machine out. Eco-Green Cremation System, BioSafe Engineering, CycledLife and Resomation Ltd.
Resomation LTD has claimed to ship a resomation machine for Funeral Industry Use to it’s distributor Matthews International In the USA in 2009. Almost A year later NOW however the Machine is NOT INSTALLED.
Cryomation(R) says they have run a demonstration.I have seen a Cycled Life(R) demonstration with my own eyes. I also have all seen BioSafe Engineering Machines.
I have verified that Cycle life is shipping a green cremation machine to the funeral industry. Eco-Green cremation systems claims to be shipping cremation Machines
I have pictures of the machines from all the players in the green cremation machine race except Eco-Green Cremation System, Inc and Cryomation(R). It raises the question, Do either of these even have a machine yet? These folks may not like the question, but they are not releasing evidence of where they are at with there machines and bio cremation.
What are these men behind the curtain at Eco-Green Cremation System, Inc and Cryomation(R) , doing? Even the little dog Toto cannot tell what these “Wizards of Oz” are doing.
It could be though that we get up one morning though and any of the four players in alkaline hydrolysis or the cryomation folks may have multiple green cremation machines working in the funeral industry around the world.
Funeral Industry|Funeral News|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.
Resomation Machine Pic from the UK( Resomation LTD)
Note: Promessa is a company that uses liquid nitrogen in a an organic burial, Cryomation(R) is a company that takes the process takes the process a step further in creating ash from the liquid nirtogen process. This differs from cryonics which keeps a body continually frozen for future restoration.
A decline in profits in the second largest funeral corporations profits is a further example of traditional funeral industry decline. This is according to the Wall Street Journal on Stewart Enterprises:
Stewart Enterprises Inc.’s (STEI) fiscal second-quarter earnings fell 5.4% despite better sales, surprising analysts, who on average expected an earnings increase, as the funeral company’s margin suffered despite better sales.
I had the occasion to do a traditional funeral this week. I observed a significant number of cremated remains in the fueral home’s office waiting to be returned to families.
This was a hard reminder of the rise of cremation and the demise of the traditional funeral and the traditional funeral industry.
Funeral Industry|Funeral News|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy
If the Bereaved Consumers Bill Of Rights Act of 2009, Hr 3655 would have been in place the last several years the Scandal revealed at Arlington National Cemetery may have been prevented.
If accurate records were maintained and submitted to an independent governmental authority, mistakes made with veterans bodies may have been avoided.
The bill also requires cemeteries to retain all records and make them available to federal, state and local governments.
Cremation costs can vary by thousands of dollars. This is is an important factor when considering funeral costs and cremations costs. We have addressed this subject in several places before,-it is important to address this subject again. You can view a video on this with more info here. As with funeral cost, and cremation cost- [...]
Image via Wikipedia There has been an article on Ten Companies Controlling the Funeral Industry. What is interesting in the article are the Newcomers Wall Mart and Amazon .com These companies have only entered the funeral industry in the last several of years. This is an indication of traditional Funeral industry decline and the desire [...]
Hillenbrand Inc and the CEO Kenneth Camp, have acknowledged funeral industry and Casket sales decline. The company executive has decided to live with the reality that is there. People are paying less funeral cost and many are continuing to live with the reality of the funeral industry decline. Hillenbrand Inc. CEO Kenneth Camp might have [...]
1. TV special Shows what it is like to die If you or a loved one have thought you may die, it may be a good idea to catch the PBS frontline special”FACING DEATH”. Would you go to intensive care to die? How long should someone receive treatment? Check out the video. via www.yourfuneralguy.com 2. [...]
There have been three great funeral books published in 2010 that can help with Funerals and your funeral cost. These book state the principles presented in Rest in Peace: Insider Tips to the Low Cost Less Stress Funeral. The First one is A Good Goodbye by Gail Rubin a new funeral book from the USA. [...]
JEFFERSON, La. and NEW YORK, June 15, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Stewart Enterprises, Inc. (Nasdaq:STEI), Funeral Consumers Alliance, Inc. (FCA), and their respective counsel today jointly announced that Stewart and FCA have entered into a confidential Settlement Agreement ending a lawsuit filed by FCA and several individuals in 2005. The settlement provides for dismissal with prejudice of all claims filed by the plaintiffs without any finding or admission of liability or wrongdoing by any party…..
