[Consumer Reports] The last goodbye: How to plan a funeral

[Consumer Reports] The last goodbye: How to plan a funeral 
Consumer Reports; by Janet Siroto; 7/7/24 
A complete guide to giving loved ones the right send-off--from traditional services to new green burials. Six years ago, Kelly Avery and Kristin Harper, sisters from Birmingham, Ala., gathered their families by the sky-blue ocean waters of Destin, Fla., to memorialize their mother, Barbara Harper. ... They shared funny stories and music, and shed some tears as they spread their mother’s ashes from the deck of a large boat.  ... The experience not only gave the family a meaningful way to pay tribute to Barbara but also got the sisters thinking about their own memorials. The key is making some choices well beforehand, which more people appear to be doing. For instance, according to an April 2024 Consumer Reports nationally representative survey (PDF) of 2,042 adults in the U.S., 50 percent said they planned or intended to plan ahead either for their own funeral or for someone else’s. Read on for a rundown of possibilities and costs. ... (Prices for the traditional burial and cremation packages ... are from the 2023 National Funeral Directors Association’s Member General Price List Study.) [Click on the title's link for the full article.]

• Traditional Burial ...
• Cremation ...
• 4 More Ways to Go ...
• Should You Put Aside Funeral Funds Now?
• How to Make Your Wishes Known ...

Editor's Note: This excellent article from the reputable Consumer Reports provides concise, relevant information which impacts each hospice patient who dies. Do these core decisions need to be made before the death? Yes. Ask your clinicians: What happened when they attended a death and a funeral home had not been chosen? Or decisions had not been made and family members were extremely conflicted about embalming/viewing versus cremation asap? It happens. Planning can prevent problems, or at least mitigate damage at this most vulnerable time of death.