Equity at the End

Staci M. Zavattaro is Professor of Public Administration at the University of Central Florida, USA.Jennifer L. Wright-Berryman is Associate Professor of Social Work in the College of Allied Health Sciences at the University of Cincinnati, USA.

• IntroductionChapter 1. An Introduction to American DeathcareChapter 2. Defining Death EquityChapter 3. Accessing Alternative Death Care and the Good DeathChapter 4. Equitable Death Care for LGBTQIA+ ConsumersChapter 5. Accounting for DeathChapter 6. Using the CorpseChapter 7. Stigmatizing DeathChapter 8. Providing Death CareChapter 9. Expanding Deathcare LiteracyChapter 10. Changing the Deathcare Conversation

This is an important introduction to death equity, covering barriers to a "good" death, alternative care for LGBTQIA+ individuals, the costs of death and burial, the handling of the corpse, green and natural burial, water cremation, the marginalization of non-Christian populations or those with HIV/AIDS or death by suicide, the mental and emotional toll on people who deliver death care services, death literacy, and more. Zavattaro (public administration, Univ. of Central Florida) and Wright-Berryman (social work, Univ. of Cincinnati) combine their expertise to compile interviews with death managers and consumers, studies of cremation records, accounts of visits to cemeteries, personal stories, and the Equal Deathcare web resource for sexual, gender, and religious minorities. The authors define terms such as deadnaming; review confusing federal, state, and local government regulations, rules, and policies about handling, transport, and body disposition, cremation, and/or burial; and discuss the "dirty work" stigma, burnout, the shortage of forensic pathologists, funeral insurance, end-of-life planning, bereavement leave policy, private family-owned and corporate funeral homes, and indigent burials of unclaimed bodies by government agencies, for example, during the COVID-19 epidemic. There are extensive chapter references, 10 illustrative case studies, reflection questions, and suggestions for further reading.