No Dignity in Death

The Blame Game

The coronavirus continues to ravage New York. Heading into the last week of April, almost 300,000 people across New York State have been diagnosed with the virus with close to 17,000 deaths being reported. In New York City alone and despite the imposition of strict social distancing measures, more than 11,000 people have died from the disease.
Overwhelmed by the sheer number of fatalities, makeshift morgues have been set up outside local area hospitals. To ease the burden on hospitals, the City's Office of Chief Medical Examiner recently issued a notice that bodies which remain unclaimed after only 2 weeks would be buried in a mass grave on Hart Island, a remote island in the Long Island Sound.
In this episode of The Blame Game, we explore the City's potential legal liability in burying unclaimed bodies on Hart Island and for depriving surviving family members of the possibility of holding a funeral and saying their goodbyes. We also speak with Lissett Ferreira, an elder law attorney at Meenan & Associates, LLC, who will talk about some of the things you can do to prevent getting buried in a Potter's Field.

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