A record 21 people were buried without fanfare by Luzerne County last year because no survivors were found or the next of kin were unwilling or unable to accept responsibility.
“I can only hope the number will return to what it had traditionally been,” county Coroner William Lisman said Friday, citing a figure around 10.
The 2016 total is triple the seven unclaimed burials in 2015, but that year’s number was unusually low because the county hasn’t had less than 10 burials since 2009.
Unclaimed burials have ranged from 10 to 17 annually from 2010 to 2014, and Lisman said this is the first time the number exceeded 20.
The county is required by law to bury the deceased within its borders if nobody claims the body. The county pays $750 for the grave and an unceremonious burial at the Maple Hill Cemetery in Hanover Township.
Lisman has partially attributed this year’s record to the opioid crisis, which has contributed to another county high of 137 to 140 drug overdose deaths last year, depending on pending toxicology results.
Three of the unclaimed burials were drug overdose cases, and relatives of the deceased refused to get involved, Lisman said.
Another man buried at the county’s expense was homeless, and a few were from outside the region, he said.
The coroner must take on the role of a detective attempting to track down survivors or assets that may be claimed to recoup the county’s expense.
Counties have no legal access to life insurance or liquidation powers to cover burial costs, but Lisman’s office requests reimbursement from financial institutions if the deceased have money in the bank and has placed liens on real estate owned by the deceased to obtain money if their property is sold.
Lisman points to his frustration over a past case in which his office was powerless to claim money from an insurance policy to cover the cost of an unclaimed burial. A surviving relative had refused to accept the body but wanted a copy of the death certificate because she was a beneficiary on the insurance policy. After Lisman refused her request, the woman obtained a death certificate from the state so she could cash in, he said.
Despite exhaustive efforts, Lisman said he was able to reclaim funds in only two or three unclaimed burial cases last year.
The county spent $8,500 on unclaimed burials in 2015. The council budgeted $11,700 for the expense last year and kept the amount the same in the 2017 budget. Figures on what was spent last year were not immediately available Friday.
The council also approved funding for a new $48,000-a-year coroner deputy with duties that include assisting in the search for relatives and assets of the unclaimed deceased.
If the burial number continues to rise, Lisman said he may ask county council members to consider cremation, although he has reservations about that option.
He estimates the county would save about $5,000 annually for every 10 unclaimed bodies that are cremated.
However, state law says approval of the next of kin is required to cremate, he said. He worries family members who were not previously identified will surface, object to the cremation and subject the county to legal action.
“To me, the potential we could be sued is not worth the money we’d save,” Lisman said.
Under the county’s current system, the body bag can be removed from the ground for burial and service elsewhere. The body bags are placed inside a corrugated cardboard coffin and lowered into the ground, where they remain in an unmarked plot among more than 250 past unclaimed bodies.
The unclaimed burials are held at the convenience of Maple Hill because the cemetery has provided a discounted rate to help the county. Some survivors have requested notification to attend a county burial, but Lisman said that courtesy would be unfair to the majority who take ownership of burials, including some who are poor or estranged from the deceased.
