Funeral Home to Halt Extra Embalming Fee in AIDS Deaths
WASHINGTON — Pressed by the Justice Department, a Virginia funeral home agreed Thursday to stop charging extra for embalming bodies of people who die of AIDS or its complications.
It was the first settlement under the Americans With Disabilities Act involving funeral home discrimination on the basis of AIDS.
The Fisher Funeral Home of Portsmouth, Va., also agreed to reimburse and pay damages to nine families that Justice Department investigators found were charged $300 extra each for embalming.
Without admitting any violations of law, the funeral home also agreed to adopt a policy against AIDS discrimination, which is barred by the disabilities act, and to train its employees.
Rules issued in 1991 by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, based on recommendations of the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, require morticians and funeral home employees to treat all bodies as if they have an infectious, blood-borne disease. As a result, the Justice Department said, there is no legal basis for charging more when the deceased had AIDS or any other disease.
Fisher agreed to pay the family that lodged the original complaint $1,500 and each of the other eight families $600.
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