The Cost of Dying by Linda Hernandez

            Humans are not immortal, regardless of ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status. All human beings will all one-day die and that is one hundred percent guarantee! However, where one dies and how much is spent on their death is something that can vary due to ethnicity, gender and specifically because of one’s socioeconomic status. For many people the concept of death is as fascinating at it is frightening. When living a healthy life span one does not stop to think about making funeral arrangements or finalizing their will. It is however; known that the human beings wish to leave something behind to be remembered by and to have made an impact on other people’s lives, this is due to Erikson’s theory of generativity and ego integrity. The dilemma of death and dying always comes face to face with money and emotions for both the individual at risk and those in their surroundings.

            Individuals living paycheck to paycheck do not consider the creation of a savings account for when the sick and death days come upon them. This then leads to their medical insurance covering most of the costs that is to say if they have health insurance. CBS News reported that Medicare, the state’s health insurances for those older individuals of the lower class last year spent about 50 billion dollars just for doctor and hospital bills during the last two months of patients’ lives. This is a relief considering that the patient is on a death bed and the surrounding loved ones are most likely emotionally unstable. However, what happens if health insurance is not an option due to an uneducated patient, a patient that does not have someone guiding and being of support, and no money was placed aside for this unfortunate moment. This can be the case of many older adults that possibly are living at home alone or with their spouse who is safe to say are probably of around the same age and are living based on their Social Security paycheck.

            In addition to the no savings account for death and sickness, there are high chances that before an individual passes away one will spend about two or more months in a hospital, nursing home, or just in their home. This is decided on occasions by the patients’ wishes, the family’s hope or abandonment, or modern medicine prolonging the individual’s death. In their report on finances and death CBS News stated, families on many occasion add to the “hospital business” versus to a late but surely little resources for a more peaceful and respectful death. This on many occasions has to do with the patients or family’s denial of death, doctor’s honesty, and the waiting of a medical miracle versus the exploration of death procedures.

            “Cremation  is the hottest trend in the funeral industry” reported NBC News, and one may is the reason for this because loved ones are emotionally unstable to make the correct procedural choices, is it an easier and less painful experience for the individual that has passed away, but in reality it all comes down to the language of money. Cremation is cheaper than burial. The average cost of a funeral today is about $6,500, including the typical $2,000-or-more cost of a casket. Add a burial vault, and the average jumps to around $7,700 this according to NBC News. Now according to Cremation.com, the cost for cremating a loved one can be as low as $600 up to $3000 what a great difference from burial. Of course when it comes down to choosing the proper after death procedures for the individual that has passed away a number of factors should be considered. Such as what is the reasoning behind choosing one procedure over the other, is there any religious beliefs or notions involved in the procedure choosing, and lastly what is mental, emotional, and financial stage of the individual making all the decisions.

            In many cases, besides the socioeconomic status of the family another factor that can affect the money decisions is who is the individual dying and what was the cause for their death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after completion of the 2010 census that took play a few of the leading causes for death of older adults were related to health problems such as heart diseases and cancer. I want to make the generalization that as part of the rules for life older individuals are “suppose” to die before younger adolescents, but in recent times that has not necessarily been the case. Young adults are dying before their “time has come” meaning that it is now older adults who again let’s remember are most likely living based on their Social Security paycheck having to handle the financial burden of the death of a loved one. This is due to the life choices made by one individual is to say, I watch Orange is the New Black a very popular show to the young adults of today’s era thanks to the phenomenon of Netflix. This show is the depiction of the true story of Piper Kerman who had to spend one year in a women’s prison this show explores the kind of women found in prison and the story behind them. Rosa, one of the first woman Piper meets was placed in jail around the age of 25-28 which one would considered as an emerging adult for robbing banks, not long after Rosa is sentenced and placed in jail does the clinic detect lung Cancer well because in her surrounding setting Rosa is considered nothing more than a intimate with a number little treatment is given to her and has to depressed and in pain pass away in her 6 by 8 feet prison cell. Just like Rosa many of the young adults in today’s society are making the wrong choices of text and drive, drink and drive, become part of gang affiliation and etc. that later costs them their lives and their surrounding ones such their old in age parents a pocket full of no money to proceed with after death routine.

            Besides the funeral proceedings, in many ethnicities other traditions are followed which also require of money. For example, I am Mexican and in our family we have traditions passed on to us from our grandparents for just about everything including death. A vast majority of Mexican and Hispanics are Roman Catholic, this being stated according to what I what my family has passed down as tradition and to PBS, Hispanic cultures participate in a variety of activities before, during and after the death of a loved one. Such as, if a loved one is sick this is a sign of family communication and coming together for support, this then leads to the burden of who will be responsible of taking care of the ill individual. In my class PSY 4115: Developmental Psychology of Adulthood we once had an in class discussion about who does the burden of taking care of an older adult fall to and we came to the conclusion that case studies have shown that women are the ones more likely to carry and take responsibility of the burden. Well same idea is applied to the Hispanic culture; the women of the individual dying are the ones to have to carry the burden of becoming their nurse and assistant. This job comes with the responsibility of having to transport the individual to medical visits which cost money, and if need be to contact a priest to make a home visit so that the individual is given the opportunity to participate in communion one last time, confesses their sins, and receives blessings this can also on many occasions have a price. In addition to that, when the individual does pass away then the family must began the preparation of the after events such as the holding a wake, this is when the family and other friends of the individual come together in celebration of the loved one’s life. In this celebration the good memories shared with the individual are retold, flowers and table games such as card or dominos are played, prayers are said, flowers and candles must be surround body and the house, and food and drinks must be served to the guest been that this event can go on for a couple of days. Burial of the body must the followed along with a mass which leads to the fact that cremation which already discussed on many occasions is possibly the cheapest route to take Hispanics are not very open to this idea and well as we all know burial is very pricey.

            Those with a lower socioeconomic status find themselves in an emotionally and financial hardship moment when a loved one passes away because in many cases healthcare insurance is not available, there was no prior planning due to uneducated or just irresponsibility, the financial burden of death is being presented to older individuals due to young adults wrong choices, and depending on one’s culture the act of dying can be accompanied by other events.  Now what about those who are fortunate enough to count on medical insurance, have a death plan, and have a different meaning of death, well to begin with according to dyingmatters.gov, the opportunity of being able to plan for moments of sickness and death is vital due to the economic problems that arise, the satisfaction of helping your loved ones make decisions easier for them, and because burial is not the only option. If one is financially stable and healthy the game plan for when death happens allows for those loved ones left behind to actually mourn and have a moment of grief for themselves as well as to bond with others. This helps because if decision making is a difficult task for many when stable the difficulty grows when emotionally unstable. Also, if the research is done ahead of time one can note the variety of options after death besides burial such as the environmental effect of burial and cremation and even the opportunity of being able to donate organs to does in need and also even possibly donation one’s brain and other organs for research that can also let you rest in peace with the satisfaction of have been of help and change.

Most importantly, in my opinion I think that the one of main difference between death for a low socioeconomic status family and a high socioeconomic status family is the meaning of death and the thought given to it. For example, when a celebrity dies whom I consider of a high socioeconomic class it is safe to say that in the burial services they have the best casket, flowers of every color and kind, large amount food and alcoholic drinks to help with coping and even the media around to make the news televised and trend over social media networks and news. Not to mention that in many cases after a celebrity passes away the legal and emotional fight over assets is began in between family relatives. The blessing of having money gives one’s death a complete different meaning versus if all you ever had in your life was the love of your loved one’s for who one really was. Death cannot be stop or avoided but the confusion, stress, anger, and poor decisions, debt, and little time to grief can be defeated if money, plans, education, and most importantly love, support, understanding, and compromise are present.

Works Cited

Cooper-White, M. (2014, August 13). Cremation Is More Popular Than Ever, And Here's Why (INFOGRAPHIC). Retrieved November 18, 2014, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/13/cremation-on-the-rise-infographic_n_5669195.html

Cremation is the hottest trend in the funeral industry  - NBC News. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2014, from http://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/cremation-hottest-trend-funeral-industry-f1B8068228

Orange Is the New Black. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2014, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2372162/

Pine, V., & Phillips, D. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2014, from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/799558?uid=16796144&uid=3739656&uid=2&uid=3&uid=67&uid=16749424&uid=62&uid=3739256&sid=21105236046953

The Cost of Dying. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2014, from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-cost-of-dying/