NY1 For You: New Ethics Code To Protect Funeral Home Customers
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A new statewide code of ethics for funeral directors will protect consumers when they are at their most vulnerable. NY1's Susan Jhun filed the following NY1 for You report.Grieving mourners might not be the savviest consumers and might be vulnerable to potential scams. To help them out, the New York State Funeral Directors Association just released a new code of ethics for funeral homes.
"What funeral directors really do is care for people on the worst day of their lives," says Executive Director Bonnie McCullough of the NYSFDA.
The code will prevent unethical practices by funeral directors.
"Total disclosure, no misleading in advertising, those kinds of things are what we're looking at," says McCullough. "Total adherence to all the laws and regulations within the State of New York and also absolute respect for the public in every way."
The ethics code is divided into five categories: obligations to the family, obligations to the decedent, obligations to the public, obligations to the government and obligations to the New York State Funeral Directors Association.
McCullough says this code will hold funeral directors to the highest standard.
"In our code of ethics we do have an enforceable code, so we are able to act upon any complaints or problems that we find out about," she says.
In other words, a consumer who isn't satisfied with the services of a member funeral director can file a complaint.
"They are to write to the chairman of our ethics committee care of the New York State Funeral Directors Association, state their specific complaint, the name of the funeral home, and what they would expect as some sort of reconciliation within that," says McCullough.
Once it is received, the Ethics Committee will try to mediate the complaint.
"That is going to work 90, 95 percent of the time," says McCullough.
There are four potential consequences for a funeral director. They include being censured or reprimanded, being put on probation, having one's membership suspended, or in extreme circumstances having one's membership terminated.
Funeral directors who are not members of the NYSFDA are not bound by the new code of ethics.
However, a funeral director who is a member and who follows the ethic code will display a particular plaque that says so.
For more information call 1-800-291-2629 or visit www.nysfda.org.