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Colorado coroners want to start tracking home burials
Posted: Feb 4, 2010 8:20 AM by Bea Karnes, News First 5
Updated: Feb 4, 2010 8:20 AM
As the trend toward green burials grows, Colorado coroners think more people may want to bury their relatives at home -- and they say the state needs to start tracking where people are being buried.
They see a potential problem 10 or 20 years from now if new property owners accidentally dig up a body, triggering an expensive and unnecessary investigation into whether foul play was involved.
At the request of coroners, Republican State Rep. Randy Baumgardner of Hot Sulphur Springs is introducing a bill that would require people doing home burials to notify their county clerk. A note would then be added to their deed so authorities and the new owners would know in case the grave is unearthed.
Green burials are ones in which bodies aren't embalmed and are buried in biodegradable caskets with no concrete grave liner or traditional headstone or marker.
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