Hunley: Reflections on death - in many forms

Death, maybe more so than usual, has been getting all the big headlines lately.

As of this writing, we're still not sure what caused the passing of Michael Jackson.

Paul Powell, who raped and murdered a 16-year-old Yorkshire girl in 1999, decided last week that he wanted to be executed by electric chair instead of by lethal injection.

And many folks are talking about the notion that celebrities die in groups of three.

Was Jackson the third in a trio including Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett?

Or did one threesome start with David Carradine, who died in a manner that's dicey for a family newspaper to describe, and continue with McMahon and Fawcett? That would mean another began with Jackson, continued with pitchman Billy Mays and awaits a third celeb.

We're unlikely to get anywhere on these issues today, what with most of us having just taken off for the Fourth of July weekend.

But it's important for me to devote some column inches to another story of death and dying.

Back in April, I wrote about the reportedly atrocious conditions at National Funeral Home in Falls Church.

The mortuary was accused of keeping corpses in a manner that seemed totally disrespectful.

News reports said family members discovered their dead relatives stored in a garage and kept uncovered in a lukewarm cooler with 1 to 2 inches of feces and urine on the floor.

My father was a funeral director for more than 40 years, so this story repulsed me even more than it might the average reader.

But now, more than two months later, funeral home company Service Corporation International, which owns the Falls Church operation, has responded to the allegations.

So, in the interest of fairness, the conglomerate should get some space to have its say.

Essentially, funeral home executives told the Virginia Department of Health Professions that they treat "all remains with the utmost dignity and respect" and that they "acted in accordance with all laws, regulations and industry standards at all times."

They hired heavy-hitting lawyers, including former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, who led a "comprehensive" internal investigation, and former state Attorney General William G. Broad-dus, who is representing the mortuaries before the Virginia Board of Funeral Directors and Embalm-ers.

And they make a good point when they note that in two unannounced inspections, on March 12 and on April 30, state regulators found no unclean conditions.

However, it's hard to believe the families who complained are making everything up.

What would they have to gain? This isn't like the scheme where a crook stops in front of you on the highway so you rear-end him, and then he complains of whiplash and takes your insurance company for all it's worth.

Regardless, perhaps some good will come from this situation. At the end of the statement SCI sent to re-porters last week, the conglomerate said National Funeral Home is developing new "protocols and procedures" and making enhancements to its facility.

Maybe the business didn't do anything wrong. It's hard to say for sure.

But let's hope these changes mean that nothing like what's been described ever happens in the future.

Jonathan Hunley is a staff writer at the News & Messenger. Contact him at 703-369-5738 or at

jhunley@insidenova.com.