Should Mortuaries be able to hold bodies hostage?

[JosephOne]

Markus Andras wrote:

<quoted text>
So if a repair shop repaired your motorcycle and you couldn't pay the price they gave you on the estimate you agreed to up-front, you wouldn't expect them to hold onto your cycle until you could pay?

A families loved one is a little bit different than an inanimate machine. You really have no heart do you? I guess you would support abortion too and figure all those murdering of babies would be just business. I have very little sympathy for business minded people like you. It is people like you that give businesses a bad name and allow the democratic lie that all businesses are evil and are out just for one thing money. A funeral business is much different than a motorcycle repair shop. That loved one that is passed on is not someones property, the funeral home did not own any part of him. Sorry, but you are just evil. Yet my prayers and blessings go out to you too. You might need them even more.

[WorkingStiff]

When I die, throw my corpse in a dumpster, incinerate it or dump it in a hole in the ground. That's of course after my donations are made to the living as I am a donor. My body is no longer mine any more. God took my spirit from it. No fancy funeral for me. Spend the money on the living.

[Silk_the_Absent1]

Interesting to note, what the mortuary did was illegal, on the federal level. HOWEVER, it was legal, on the state level.

Isn't that what you conservatives want? Less federal interference? He, the mortician, was simply doing what any conservative business owner would have, if one buys into your party's rhetoric.

[Redviffer]

Markus Andras wrote:

<quoted text>
So if a repair shop repaired your motorcycle and you couldn't pay the price they gave you on the estimate you agreed to up-front, you wouldn't expect them to hold onto your cycle until you could pay?

In that case, yes, they can hold it until they obtain payment. However, that should not be the case with a HUMAN body, alive or dead. Lumping a human being in the same category as regular property shouldn't be done.

While I wholly side with the mortuary for attempting to enforce their agreed upon contract, the method of holding body is not one I agree with.

[Redviffer]

Let me put it a different way:

You drop your kid off at a baby sitter for the day. At the end of the day you come to pick them up, but somehow you forgot your money, or don't have enough to make the full payment. You are willing to pay them the amount but you can't do it all at once (i.e. you are willing to pay, its just the timing you can't do).

Are they able to keep your child until you pay in full? Its the same thing, except in this instance the body of the person is still alive.

Not knowing ALL the details, only what I've read in the story, but it does say it wasn't that they didn't want to pay, they just couldn't pay everything up front, and wanted to work it out. Its the funeral home that didn't want to cooperate/negotiate/compromise . In the end, they lost that business, and probably more in the future.

It may be their right to enforce the contract, but what they just did will certainly negatively affect their business in the future.

[WildBurp]

Markus Andras wrote:

<quoted text>
So if a repair shop repaired your motorcycle and you couldn't pay the price they gave you on the estimate you agreed to up-front, you wouldn't expect them to hold onto your cycle until you could pay?

It's not the same thing. A deceased body is going to go to waste no matter how long it is put in a cooler. Being hit with the loss, I 'm sure the family was a bit overcome by the costs and only thought of the right thing for their loved one. My guess is the mortician pressured them to agreeing with anything he wanted and the option of a payment was not offered. Salesmen always throw pitches at people even if it is not what they want nor need. My opinion is that since he is in the business, he knows what to say and how to present it in a fashion that makes the bereaved family feel obligated.
Nonetheless, a payment plan should have been offered.

[WildBurp]

Silk_the_Absent1 wrote:

Interesting to note, what the mortuary did was illegal, on the federal level. HOWEVER, it was legal, on the state level.
Isn't that what you conservatives want? Less federal interference? He, the mortician, was simply doing what any conservative business owner would have, if one buys into your party's rhetoric.

What is LEGALLY RIGHT and MORALLY RIGHT are two different concepts in this case. Yeah, he was legally right to hold the body hostage for payment but it is morally wrong.

However, NM lawmakers are looking into fixing this during the next session.

[fmer-505-1951]

Fed Up wrote:

Like so many other people now-a-days, you buy something, you make a committment, you sign a contract, then walk away. Is nobodys word any good anymore? Is it ok to just walk away from your resposibilities because 'I don't have the money?'
Gee, banks loan money, title companies loan money,
private individuals loan money. There are ways to get the money you owe, not just stand there and whimper.

That is not what is being said at all. When a loved one dies your mind is clouded, you cannot think straight. You are emotional and vulnerable. The mortuary, being in that business should be knowledgeable in this. People are consumed by grief over their loss. The mortuary should have made every effort to work out some type of payment plan with this family. Yes, they are a business, but that business deals with families whose emotions make them vulnerable and willing to sign anything. This people should be put out of business, they have no compassion and only see $$$$.

[Think About It]

I know this is practice in Mexico and other shyte hole countries, BUT THIS AINT MEXICO.