8 ms·
Pacemaker explosions in crematoria
- ryandamm 11y agoFavorite factoid: one (discontinued) power source for pacemakers is evidently Pu-238. http://osrp.lanl.gov/pacemakers.shtml http://osrp.lanl.gov/pacemakers.shtml
- gpvos 11y agoIt is also mentioned in the featured article.
- camperman 11y agoIain Banks uses this as a hilarious opening line to The Crow Road: "It was the day my grandmother exploded."
- gpvos 11y agoNot so hilarious when people wearing bomb belts are in the news.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- RogtamBar 11y agoThe odds of getting blown up and getting into the news are still roughly parallel to winning in lottery. So, it's still pretty funny I say. Grandmas don't explode..
- fabulist 11y agoLet's try not to let terrorism enter _every_ conversation.
- camperman 11y agoWell, quite. Obviously there's absolutely no difference between a comment about a pacemaker exploding during the cremation process used to comic effect in a work of fiction and a real suicide bomber. I'd suggest not using the arj utility to 'explode' any old archives during this difficult period until such time as you feel more able to cope. If you absolutely must, then I'm sure PTSD counseling is available.
- ucaetano 11y agoEasy (but VERY controversial) solution: people with pacemakers must have a tattoo in the wrist or somewhere else. On a separate note, maybe we should all have a tattoo with some basic info: name (optional), blood type, chronic diseases (diabetes for example), medication allergies, pacemakers, etc. Kinda like the SS tattoos, but without the SS part, naturally.
- purpled_haze 11y agoWhy not just an rfid chip in the pacemaker itself?
- ucaetano 11y agoBecause then you need to equip every single crematorium in the world with a RFID reader, not to mention that it will be useless to millions of people around the world that already have pacemakers.
- onlycommenting 11y agoOr, look for landmark scaring.
- lawpoop 11y agoOr use a metal detector first?
- ucaetano 11y agoAgain, pretty expensive to equip every single crematorium around the world with metal detectors.
- Zigurd 11y agoThe lowest price I saw on Amazon was $18.
- 6stringmerc 11y agoThen rock-paper-scissors for who has to take it out?
- thesehands 11y agoI'm aware of a scheme in the UK where Doctors got paid for signing the forms post death certifying a pacemaker is not present in the body. At the end of the week these doctors could collect their not insignificant (roughy £100 a body) 'ash cash'.
- gpvos 11y agoWhat would be the point of this? (Also, do you have a source?)
- lmm 11y agoWell presumably a doctor is trusted to have access to medical records in a way that a crematorium isn't - or has the training to perform a physical examination if they don't have those records.
- gpvos 11y agoOkay. I got the impression that something illegitimate was going on.
- DanBC 11y agohttp://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/jan/10/doctors-cremation-ash-cash http://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/jan/10/doctors-crema... > Doctors are pocketing almost £15m a year from grieving families in return for filling in simple forms sanctioning the release of the bodies of loved ones for cremation. > "Ash cash" payments, as they are known by medical staff, are considered one of the perks of the job. Tales of junior doctors vying with each other to fill in the forms, for which they receive £73.50 a time, are legion. A junior doctor who blogs under the name "The Daily Rhino" has described ash cash "as the house officer's privilege, it is the fund for Thursday night drinks all over the country".
- basicplus2 11y agohave xray machines installed at all crematoria... along with good quality kitchen knife.
- zeveb 11y agoI really think that if folks had a better understanding of what happens in cremation, embalmed entombment and unembalmed burial that we would see a massive societal shift towards unembalmed burial. Cremation, in particular, is a nasty bit of business. Those 'ashes' aren't actually ashes: they're bone meal. The morticians I know would never be cremated, nor wish their loved ones to be (I don't know all the morticians in the world, of course: no doubt there are many who would be fine with it).
- Mithaldu 11y agoSo what happens exactly that bothers you? After burning whatever remains is put through a grinder? If it is that, why does it bother you? Or are you saying people are given fake remains? If so: {{citation}}
- zeveb 11y ago> So what happens exactly that bothers you? The corpse is roasted, the fat melting (a fire hazard with extremely fat people), the charred and finally most of the organic compounds evaporate, leaving behind the skeleton, medical devices and any other such detritus (e.g. shrapnel). The furnace is then opened and the bones are raked out; an attendant removes anything which could damage the grinder and grinds the bones into meal (it's great for roses!). > If it is that, why does it bother you? Grinding a human being into dust doesn't bother you?
- Mithaldu 11y ago> > If it is that, why does it bother you? > Grinding a human being into dust doesn't bother you? For one, that is not an answer. For the other, no it doesn't. The brain is shut down. All that's left is cells which individually may still have some life, but are bound to die quickly anyhow. And particularly after being burned they're all guaranteed to be dead, so the grinding does not harm any living being anymore. Does the grinding bother you more than the burning?
- HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago
- apricot 11y agoI'm just a little bit disappointed that the references section does not cite the French singer Charles Trenet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0KWyWwVp0E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0KWyWwVp0E