« How you can spot an economic downturn . . . | Main | Talk about an easy contextual link . . . »
September 6, 2008
Speaking of cadavers and economic indicators...
Really, I'm not so morbid, but I have recently posted about cadaveric parts and economic indicators - but what about this combination? Soaring funeral costs mean more Germans leave bodies to science.
“If you look at the 33 anatomy institutes in Germany taken together, the supply of bodies donated to science has been higher than the demand for a few years now,” Friedrich Paulsen, a professor at the Institute for Anatomy at Martin Luther University in the eastern city of Halle, told AFP.“Axel Burchardt, spokesman for the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, eastern Germany has no illusions about what has led to the wave of generosity among grieving families: research institutes generally assume the cost of a funeral once the dearly departed have been dissected.
. . .
Rising taxes on cemeteries mean that burial ceremonies now average upwards of €3,000, according to Heike Boehme-Kueppenbender of the Federation of German Undertakers. ”For luxury funerals, the sky's the limit,” she said.
Since 2004, public health insurance funds have also axed the €1,000 stipend for funerals. Some families have had to seek public assistance to pay for their loved ones’ burial, while others have sought plots in the Netherlands, Belgium, France or Switzerland where the cost of interment is lower, Boehme-Kueppenbender said.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at September 6, 2008 9:09 AM