FDNY EMS transporting Dead People ?

[Happiness]

I am the body removal in our community. In rural and remote communities there is no other way. I will say this, I have had a few great conversations with the dead. Here for the sake of the family I will sit in the back with the body and take them to the morgue. It seems a bit creepy but I have to say it makes the family feel better and in a way it makes me feel better that one very small gesture helps the family.

[Richard B the EMT]

I am the body removal in our community. In rural and remote communities there is no other way. I will say this, I have had a few great conversations with the dead. Here for the sake of the family I will sit in the back with the body and take them to the morgue. It seems a bit creepy but I have to say it makes the family feel better and in a way it makes me feel better that one very small gesture helps the family.

Family comfort that someone is with the recently departed? I'd go with that concept.

[MedicNorth]

We are an extremely rural service, and although it is not a regular event, we will transport bodies to the hospital morgue if requested to by the police. In most cases there is an investigation that must be completed before the body can be removed, and we will certainly not wait around for that, nor will we return for body removal. I can think of only two instances in the past three years where we did this.

I don't imagine it would be a regular thing in a large centre. For us the nearest coroner or funeral home is 150 kms away, a far cry from a city situation.

[rock_shoes]

I am the body removal in our community. In rural and remote communities there is no other way. I will say this, I have had a few great conversations with the dead. Here for the sake of the family I will sit in the back with the body and take them to the morgue. It seems a bit creepy but I have to say it makes the family feel better and in a way it makes me feel better that one very small gesture helps the family.

I remember those rural days when the only appropriate body removal vehicle was the local ambulance. It was a unique experience that truly harkened back to the origins of EMS in BC. I always felt it was an honor for a patient's family to entrust us with this final act.

[Just Plain Ruff]

I got into EMS in our service area on the taiil end of the transport the dead in the ambulance to the local funeral home. The funeral homes eventually figured out that they could make more money (added fee) when they transported the body themselves.

I can remember being called to the local funeral home to help them move a rather large body because just one embalmer couldn't do it. Never forget the smell.

I have friends who still work for services that transport the dead and they hate it, with them being the only ambulance in a 300 square mile radius, when they are transporting a dead person they are out of service and in my humble opinion, it really isn't the ambulances job to transport the dead body to the funeral home but thats just my opinion.

[MikeEMT]

We aren't allowed to transport dead people, unless they die en route to the hospital and that is rare on a BLS rig. It does happen occasionally though because we have contracts with the numerous air ambulances that serve the region. Very possible one of their patients will die in our rig, but we also transport the flight crew with us.

We do, however, get called to babysit dead bodies on occasion. There are only 7 medic units serving the city of almost 700,000. When someone dies either in public view or in the medic unit on scene we will respond and place the body into our rig until the ME gets on scene. Prior to this the ME must be notified and permission obtained before moving the body.

I doubt FDNY is in the business of transporting dead bodies, though if it was one of their own I could see them transporting to the ME. When a cop or firefighter goes down Medic One will transport to the ME's office.