A sign of the times? *graphic content*

[Earth_First]

Cook County morgue copes with overcrowding
Medical examiner blames conditions on state's temporary funding cut

January 19, 2012|By Matthew Walberg and John Byrne, Chicago Tribune reporters

Cook County's medical examiner on Thursday fended off criticism about conditions at the morgue, saying that recent overcrowding was "an anomaly" caused by the state's short-lived decision to cut funding used to cover burial costs for the poor.

Last week, a report in theChicago Sun-Times cited an anonymous source alleging the morgue was storing nearly 500 bodies in a cooler designed to hold about half that number.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-01-19/news/ct-met-cook-county-morgue-20120120_1_morgue-military-burial-medical-examiner


It's a practice more closely associated with third world countries, but in bleak times in a Chicago-area suburb, 30 people were buried in a mass grave on Wednesday.

The pauper's burial section at Homewood Memorial Gardens was established for those who could not afford to pay for a burial plot.

And it is a problem that's sweeping America as tough economic times have led to an increase in the number of indigent burials the morgue must perform.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2088709/Third-world-America-Pics-paupers-grave-Chicago.html







Words absolutely escape me on this one...

[Lint Head]

1. This is America today.

[Atman]

2. Seems like quite a waste of quality plywood.

I mean, if they're really looking to save money...

[FSogol]

3. Sad, but why not switch to cremation? n/t

[NMDemDist2]

4. +1 n/t

[Ms. Toad]

5. I haven't followed up on it -

but I heard recently that as long as the graves aren't in manicured cemeteries, the carbon footprint may be a lot less for a relatively natural burial than a cremation.

ETA: Green burials

[otohara]

9. Thanks for Link

I will go greenest, when the time comes

[Uncle Joe]

6. I would wager most of those departed; when they were children never thought

they would go to their grave in a U-Haul Hearse.

Thanks for the thread, Earth_First.

[Snake Alchemist]

7. How can a county in Illinois be out of money?

This just seems insane.

[onethatcares]

8. thursday is soylent green day

although I wonder why they aren't cremating them instead of boxing them up.

[RC]

10. Our taxes are to high

Government is too big.
WE need to cut some more.