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If your parent/friend/brother or sister died in combat, I don't think a little smell will keep you away from seeing them? it won't keep me away so that reasoning doesn't hold well.
Thanks. I understand in those circumstances but shouldn't families have RIGHT to view if asked? Also, if visual indentification is not possible, I hope families are provided with DNA data to show that body belong to their loved ones ?
Am only hoping that it be made easier for families to get closure.
Speak for yourself, not everyone else. Have you ever seen or smelled a bloated corpse, or a corpse that has sustained significant trauma? That is a whole lot more than "a little smell."
Sometimes the condition of the remains is such that you recommend the family not view the body. The last time I did this, it was a gunshot wound to the face - the man was completely unrecognizable. In addition to the unspeakable gore that such violence wreaks upon the human body, we also take into consideration whether the last memory the next-of-kin has of their loved one is the bloody violence that took his or her life, not the smiling, happy kid they raised or married.
Still, it was, and always remains, the next-of-kin's decision.
My recollection of my last case is that the father still viewed the man's remains, but the rest of the family did not.
This also included cases were there literally isn't a body left - such as certain aircraft accidents or explosions. I know of cases where the remains were literally wet spots on the ground, which we collected. Again, the family was advised not to view the box of mud, but if they wanted to, we would arrange as dignified a setting as we could to allow them to do so.
Do we know for sure that there was nobody else in the family who viewed the remains? Do we know for sure that nobody else in the family strongly urged the widow not to? In a time of stress, any of that might have been expresed as "'they' wouldn't let me."
There's no conspiracy about that.
The Miami Herald reports:
Quote:
In addition to his wife, children and aunt and uncle, Johnson’s survivors include his father Terrence “Teoka” McGriff; grandparents Barbara Jones, Joann Johnson and Richard Johnson Sr.; and numerous siblings.
Several of them were present at Miami International Airport on Tuesday to receive Johnson’s remains. Myeshia leaned over her husband’s flag-draped coffin, sobbing.
A viewing will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, and the funeral service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday. Both the viewing and funeral will be at Christ The Rock Church, 11000 Stirling Rd., Cooper City.
Just my 2 cents, but I would think the delay in finding him and conditions of his body PUS his wife's being 6 mos pregnant would be factors in them not allowing her to see his remains. I did recently read that bodies are shrouded in the countries where the soldiers died, but are NOT embalmbed until they reach Dover AF base.
Based on my understanding, there is absolutely no regulation or justification that authorizes or allows the military to deny the right of the NOK to view the remains. There are regulations and protocols that covers when, where, who, manner, how to prepare the NOK for what they may see, recommendation for not viewing the remains and in rare cases of health hazards, a non-contact/sealed viewing. Since the circumstances of the request and denial isn't fully verified, it could just have been because it was the wrong place and wrong time.
Based on my understanding, there is absolutely no regulation or justification that authorizes or allows the military to deny the right of the NOK to view the remains. There are regulations and protocols that covers when, where, who, manner, how to prepare the NOK for what they may see, recommendation for not viewing the remains and in rare cases of health hazards, a non-contact/sealed viewing. Since the circumstances of the request and denial isn't fully verified, it could just have been because it was the wrong place and wrong time.
Based on my understanding, there is absolutely no regulation or justification that authorizes or allows the military to deny the right of the NOK to view the remains. There are regulations and protocols that covers when, where, who, manner, how to prepare the NOK for what they may see, recommendation for not viewing the remains and in rare cases of health hazards, a non-contact/sealed viewing. Since the circumstances of the request and denial isn't fully verified, it could just have been because it was the wrong place and wrong time.
I would agree with that 100% They are not going to pull the coffin off the plane and pop the lid open.
I would agree with that 100% They are not going to pull the coffin off the plane and pop the lid open.
Nope they are not.
I would tell her to just wait until we get somewhere more private. They will not stop NOK to seeing the body. They will explain what is in the casket first. How it will appear, in the case of just body parts. They will also want to have a physician there because the trauma and the stress of seeing one's loved one in tatters or even just dead is just that, traumatic.
Speak for yourself, not everyone else. Have you ever seen or smelled a bloated corpse, or a corpse that has sustained significant trauma? That is a whole lot more than "a little smell."
it is sad indeed that you wouldn't want to look at your loved ones for ONE last time no matter what the condition.
Quote:
If your parent/friend/brother or sister died in combat, I don't think a little smell will keep you away from seeing them? it won't keep me away so that reasoning doesn't hold well.
What part of "it won't keep me away" don't you understand that I speak for myself.
My understanding is that this is what happened here. It's a situation with no good options, you just have to pick the least undesirable (to you) of several options.
I *think* if the wife had asked to view "anyway", her desires would have been honored, perhaps after warning her that maybe she should not, but if she insisted, they would open the casket for her.
Bringing home the dead has to be some of the hardest duty out there.
or picking up what is left...........
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