Ever known anyone who died and had absolutely nobody to claim him/her?

I know someone who died who had friends who cared about him deeply, but no family. He had a sister who wouldn’t talk to him and no one knew how to contact her, or even if she would care to know her brother had died.

He never made a will even though he knew he was dying.

I don’t know how much money he had when he died, probably not much, but he was never poor. He had some pieces of jewelry and some other nice things.

From what I understand the government (I don’t know if it was county, state, or what) cremated him and the remains on a shelf somewhere. I was very upset his closest friends did not have an opportunity to have something from his belongings. Not for the money, I just mean a piece of jewelry or nicknack to have as a memory. His dearest friends either were appalled by the mere idea of implying they would try to take anything from his estate or others just didn’t know how to go about it. There really was only 3–4 people who were so close to him that I felt they should have gotten something, plus they all wanted a burial for him, which didn’t happen.

They briefly tried to locate the sister. They wanted her to have the opportunity to do something if she wanted to, but their efforts failed. I assume the government either sells or auctions his items off eventually. I don’t know if he owned a home at the time of his death. At times in his life he owned a home, but he had broken off a relationship a couple years before he became I’ll and might have been renting, I don’t know.

He was an incredible guy. Years ago I worked with him and he caused me a lot of fun and joy at work. He also helped me when I needed help.

I’ve had a few patients that had no one at the time of their death. We end up releasing their remains to the county coroner and they handle the rest. I know they make attempts to find a next of kin prior to doing anything with the remains. It’s very sad to watch someone die alone. If I have a dying patient that is alone, I try to sit with them and hold their hand as long as I can.

^^ You, @Seaofclouds, are a very special person.

@Seaofclouds an angel in disguise.

@Seaofclouds – would you give a person that same attention if he/she were a murderer or a rapist or child molester?

I have never known anyone like that, because that would mean someone knew the deceased.

There are provisions in law for pauper funerals. It’s not much, but at least the body isn’t put in the dumpster.

Just this afternoon I saw a big crowd gathering around a public toilet. There was even some policeman there too. It turned out that there was a dead man inside the toilet. The cause of death appeared to be drug overdose. Nobody claimed to know about him at the time.

Nobody I know personally was involved, but we had a terrible backlog in the local morgue in recent years. They had 300 unclaimed bodies. Either the deceased was unknown or the family could not afford a burial.

The Catholic church donated plots and the Funeral Directors Association volunteered services to help bury the dead.

Now the county coroner has a web site with photos and physical characteristics of the unknown, hoping the public might know them.

The Funeral Directors Association sends a volunteer for each funeral, so nobody is buried alone.

Here a story about it: Burying Cook County’s unclaimed dead

@elbanditoroso If they were one of my patients, yes. I’ve taken care of prisoners before and don’t let that effect the quality of care I provide. Most of the time, the prisoners were nicer and more respectful than many other patients in the hospital.

My parents were guardians of a teenager, during which time his father killed his wife and himself. My dad bought a suit for his body at Goodwill and arranged for a family gathering (kind of like a memorial service but without the memorial or the service) so that the boy could have some closure. The boy’s step-mom’s family took care of her arrangements.

It’s been years… but I think my mother is still traumatized from the whole [guardianship + murder/suicide] experience