Bodies pile up in Detroit morgue; poor can’t afford burial. Inside the Wayne County morgue in midtown Detroit, 67 bodies are piled up, unclaimed, in the freezing temperatures. Neither the families nor the county can afford to bury the corpses. So they stack up inside the freezer.
Detroit is not alone. The Los Angeles coroner’s office said it, too, has seen an increase in the number of bodies abandoned. That’s not surprising at a time when unemployment tops 10% in many cities and the median cost of a funeral in America hovers around $7,000. Cremation can cost $2,000.
This is an issue of concern, said the Detroit mayor’s office, but the city can’t afford to offer any assistance. “The failure, through inability or choice, to bury the deceased is a reflection of the economic conditions that have arrested this region, where people are now forced to make emotionally compromised choices,” said a spokesman in a prepared statement.
I often joke about the sad state of Michigan, Detroit in particular.
While once a proud, thriving, industrial center, the collapse of the automotive industry has rocketed the Peninsular State into a downward spiral of poverty and despair.
I remember reading some time ago that a town in Michigan is no longer paving roads, because it is too expensive. In other places in Michigan, the communities are paying homeowners to demolish their homes because it is too expensive to provide utilities
As a society, Michigan is actually going backwards and retrogressing, and reverting to the State of Nature. I feel bad for the people there, but I fault largely the policymakers in the state, and the poor decisions they have made over the past few decades which has doomed Michigan.