death
How do I die without the funeral industry benefiting in any way?
<p>I happen to have fairly strong ethical opinions about the funeral industry.</p>

<p>How do I die and deny them any profit from my death?
Bonus points for actually causing a net loss.</p>

<p>I live in the US, so at least one answer for this country is preferred, though due to the ethical nature of the question, answers about how to achieve this in any region are welcome.</p>

<p>If the answer is "figure out how to get Y law repealed before you die" then that's the answer - there's definitely not a "you can't" answer to this question!</p>

<ul>
<li>Fall into an unguarded open grave, and have your relatives sue</li>
<li>Get a job in a funeral director's, drink the embalming fluid by accident, and have your relatives sue for failure of duty of care in keeping chemicals safe. You might even get a death-in-service benefit</li>
<li>Get a job in a funeral director's, drink the embalming fluid intentionally, and have your relatives sue for failure of duty of care in your mental welfare. You might even get a death-in-service benefit</li>
</ul>

<p>You might suffer any of the above on a non-fatal way and so be able to claim compensation (apart from the death-in-service benefit, although you might get an invalidity pension) without actually having to die. </p>

<p>I read the other day that some American funeral directors drive their hearses fast on the basis that the more burials they can do in a day the more money they earn, so getting run down by a hearse in a traffic accident might be a possibility too. </p>

<p>Edit to add:</p>

<p>There is also the economy funeral alternative:</p>

<p><a href="https://cdn.instructables.com/FG7/UKDW/HSNFWZ2X/FG7UKDWHSNFWZ2X.LARGE.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://cdn.instructables.com/FG7/UKDW/HSNFWZ2X/FG7UKDWHSNFWZ2X.LARGE.jpg</a></p>

<p>Donate your body to some organisation like <a href="https://www.sciencecare.com/" rel="noreferrer">https://www.sciencecare.com/</a> </p>

<p>Not only does that bypass the funeral industry all together, it's of no cost to you or your family and it may do something useful in the process.</p>

<p>To deny the funeral industry profit, die in a place or way that takes matters out of their hands. Some examples are:</p>

<ul>
<li>The Mount Everest. If you die above a certain point, your corpse will not be recovered. It will stay there.</li>
<li>Die in service of your country. Most Western countries bury fallen soldiers and some even firefighters and policemen with special honors and not in a way that benefits the funeral industry.</li>
<li>Provide your own coffin and clothes and move to a country that does not enforce graveyard usesge.</li>
</ul>

<p>Die on a passenger ship in international waters several days from a port, and the ship master's correct course of action is to bury the body at sea unembalmed.  </p>

<p><a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/37/906/2394914/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Brambir v. Cunard White Star Limited</a></p>

<p>If you have no heirs and a limited estate, and know (or at least believe) you are close to death,  you could blow all your money to the point you're basically broke.</p>

<p>Then arrange for a lavish ceremony, memorial, and burial, and write them a check for the extravagance.</p>

<p>Die immediately after (before they have a chance to cash the check), and by the time the check bounces, the ceremony will already be over.  If you have an estate, they'd go after that for the cost, but if you're already broke, there is little they can do.</p>

<p>The real trick is in the timing, as they will almost certainly want the check to clear fully before the big memorial.</p>

<p>If your gripe is with the conventional funeral services industry then may I suggest that you could write it in your will that your body must be used towards human composting. This is legal in states like Washington, USA (assuming USA). The added benefit here is that you could donate organs and then the remaining body could 'give back' to the soil a lot more nutrients than with other methods. (Check out companies like <code>Recompose</code> for ex.)</p>

<p>If you don't want to deal with any sort of funeral service, then other ideas do cover ground.</p>
