CREMATORIUM Part 2

CREMATORIUM

Part 2

Clearly pacemakers do not like crematorium chambers and if left insitue and not removed they will certainly give the final bang firework and farewell to the deceased if he or she is cremated.  A pacemaker with good batter will continue ticking six foot under.

Removing a pacemaker from someone who died in hospital, a nursing home, retirement village, or by mishap or accident is not an easy task as it may sound.  Often that individual is looked after by a resident doctor who may or may not be familiar with that individual full medical history.  Further, to properly remove the pacemaker one needs to wheel the deceased to an operating theater and undertake proper procedure; clearly something that is not that welcomed in busy hospitals and nursing homes with budget constraints and funding cuts.  That being the fact, it is more likely than not that the explosion that bewildered me and others at the funeral parlor crematorium is to become more common.

After the bewilderment of the explosion and bringing the cremation back under control, what was left of the deceased is some bone fragments from the femur and tarsus of the feet all other organic matter was consumed by the heat and evaporated. Those cremated remains are then taken into another laboratory like setting where they are processed and turned into fine (close to powdery) particles and placed in a container or especially purchased urn by the family.  In a busy crematorium there will have to be a proper labeling system to ensure the correct processed remains are given to the correct family.

I did not witness either the processing or the labeling of the container or urn.  However the ingrained impression that was in my head before witnessing the cremation was that of ashes of departed loved ones been scattered in gardens or in the sea representing the entirety of the deceased is a myth.  What been scattered is in reality the processed remains of fragments of the femur, tarsus of the foot and the odd vertebrae plus some processing material.  

Even thou Gus from Breaking Bad didn't have a pacemaker, he certainly went out with a bang!

The real impression that remained with me is, that if you want to give your beloved departed a real final bang that will scare the shit out of the most ardent observer, is to buy a pacemaker and put it in the casket as your final gift the beloved departed. 

Better still if the beloved departed was dependent on a pacemaker in life, don’t tell anyone about it.  If you can invite one or two people to witness the cremation and make sure you have glass of your favourite drink in hand half an hour after the curtain had closed in the funeral parlor chapel.