Public safety Practitioners are required to abide by industry standards of safety and hygiene. Surfaces and materials must be cleaned according to accepted standards of sanitation, meeting all legal health and safety requirements, including universal precautions relating to communicable diseases. The funeral home or related facilities should be maintained in an appropriate fashion, upholding public health and safety standards and regulations for safeguarding the health of the public and staff members. Funeral services must conform to all legal regulations and health laws. Business management and promotion Conducting your business in an ethical manner is largely a matter of treating people fairly and decently, using your skills and time effectively, and adhering to high standards in your work. Your promotional materials, record-keeping, financial dealings, and conduct in day-to-day business matters should also be able to pass ethical scrutiny. Funeral directors should not engage personnel to solicit funerals at or near the time of death. It is unethical and illegal for a funeral director to pay commission or related payments for this kind of solicitation. This is neither meant to discourage advertising, nor pre-arranged or pre-financed funeral agreements. Preneed sales Preneed sales should be handled in an ethical manner. Bonnie L. Tippy, executive director of the New York State Funeral Directors Association, suggests other states use the same guidelines for preneed trusting decisions that are used in New York, which is one of very few states that do not allow funeral directors to accept commissions from any third party in regard to preneed funds, whether that entity is a third-party trust or insurance. Here are a few provisions of the laws 2 : 1. 100 percent of all monies must be trusted in government backed securities. 2. There can be no cancellation, nor administrative fees charged. 3. Consumers get all their money back, plus interest upon demand. (Except in the case of irrevocable Medicaid trusts, which are 100 percent portable to any funeral firm anywhere in the country.) 4. It is required that all principal plus interest accrue to the benefit of the consumer. 5. If the price of the funeral is not guaranteed, it must state so plainly in the contract. 6. There must be a contract and an itemization (the same as the Statement of Goods and Services) for each preneed account. 7. Any overage in the account after services have been rendered belongs completely to the estate or next-of- kin of the deceased (except in the case of irrevocable Medicaid accounts, in which overages are paid directly to the local county indigent burial fund). 8. Once an account is set up, the consumer must receive an accounting of where the money has been placed within 30 days. 9. The consumer must receive an annual statement with all pertinent account information. 10. No bonding is allowed. Only cash will suffice. 11. Money must be trusted, even if businesses claim that merchandise is being “warehoused” somewhere for the consumer.
Keeping up with continuing education requirements will acquaint you, if necessary, with any new information about communicable disease prevention or potential health hazards. During the 20th century, a host of conditions proved potentially hazardous to embalmer health, including polio, TB, Legionnaires Disease, AIDS, and, more recently, even anthrax and new diseases, like the West Nile virus and SARS. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), very recently, has presented itself as a possible risk. Staying aware of recent safety precautions and health concerns is important from an aspect of personal safety, but also to shield oneself from potential litigation. Maintaining your business in good professional standing means: ● Filing local, state, and federal taxes. ● Discussing and/or displaying fee schedules and billing practices prior to a first meeting. ● Making the family’s welfare your paramount concern. ● Following generally accepted accounting practices. ● Keeping accurate financial records. ● Maintaining confidentiality. ● Respectful and cooperative collaboration with other professionals. ● Appropriate referrals, if necessary. Bonnie Tippy recommends that professionals review and answer the following questions regarding pre-funded funerals to confirm their ethical standards are above and beyond “business as usual”: 1. If your state does not have a 100 percent trusting law, do you happily provide your consumer with information regarding just how much of their money will be put into trust and how much money you will retain? If you feel uncomfortable revealing this information, why is that? 2. If you charge an administrative fee which is taken from the principal paid to you, do you clearly inform the consumer of this fee and its purpose? If not, why? 3. Does your state require that the consumer receive a yearly accounting of their money? Do you believe that consumers shouldn’t have this information? If so, why not? Have you chosen for the trust to pay the tax so that the consumer will not get a yearly statement? Why? 4. If you receive a commission or other financial consideration for the placement of consumer dollars into a preneed insurance policy or a trust program, do you reveal that commission to the consumer? If not, why? 5. If you receive a special price on caskets when placing consumer’s monies into a preneed insurance policy or trust, do you reveal this information to the consumer? If not, why? 6. Ask yourself, “If I don’t feel comfortable telling consumers everything about their preneed account, could there be something wrong with what I’m doing?”
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