Nicole Vullo on 
Written by Wendy Russell Wiener, Esq., Managing Member, WRW Legal, PLLC
While the “Big Beautiful Bill” is having an impact on many businesses, including some funeral homes and cemeteries, there is another major “event” that may be having an even bigger direct impact on deathcare: The Mortician. No television show has had a more significant impact on the business of cremation in recent memory than The Mortician, HBO Max’s most watched documentary in the last five years.
In case you haven’t watched, The Mortician tells the 1980s story of David Sconce and the Lamb Funeral Home in Pasadena, California. His list of crimes is long and includes mutilating human remains, criminal activity related to cremations, collecting and selling organs and tissues, even arranging murder for hire against his competitors. The sharpest hook for viewers of the trust sordid tale, however, is regarding cremation practices that included dismembering and damaging remains to place more into the retort, thus delivering “unknown” cremated remains to more than 20,000 families.
The result: watchers are now questioning cremation related practices and the “identity” of cremated remains, both present and past. Regulators and lawyers are paying attention too. Expect to see cremation related investigations, often born of consumer complaints, increase along with discipline. The Plaintiffs’ Bar will certainly be on the lookout for more clients as well.
How to respond: be patient, be a teacher (explain your identification and cremation process), be transparent, maintain good records – records you can rely on years into the future as needed, and most of all be kind when receiving inquiries from those who now have yet another reason to doubt the deathcare profession.