? for the FDs if you don't mind

Reason behind the question is way too lengthy. I'm trying to help a friend and haven't been able to get answers.

Woman 5 feet tall and 150 pounds is cremated and the cremains are sent to the widower in a baggie via USPS Priority Mail by the medical institution that had the body. This was in no way a polite situation, and Lawyers became involved.

The widower is absolutely certain all of his wife was not returned. Xray of the ashes shows no trace of the Titanium plates in her skull, or stainless in her spine.

I'm wondering if there is a "normal" weight for the remains of the woman.
Thanks
 
Metal in the cremains is usually removed before the remains are crushed into smaller pieces, and not returned with the remains. Whenever I have seen remains returned, they are returned in a plastic bag inside of a small cardboard box. One thing that is commonly misunderstood is the weight of the remains is the bones, and that the actual weight of the person is bones, muscle, tissue, blood, fat, and organs, which has no relationship to the total weight of the bones that are left after cremation.
 
In my experience with working in a crematory long ago, a magnet is run through the cremains to remove any metals. In my 38 years in the business, I have never seen anything returned with ashes that would be in the form of any of implanted medical devices.
We just dealt with an anatomical donation, the form of returning the cremated remains to the family is through USPS.
 
What about valuable things, like gold teeth? The funeral home gets to keep them and sell them and pocket the cash?

More likely, it will be the cremation operator that would get the benefit, not the funeral home or director.
 
Reality check.

Reality check. First of all, you say medical institution. What is this a donated body? If it was, what they cremate is what’s left after dissection. Not nearly as much as untouched body would produce. Secondly, the metal is always removed from the remains before they are pulverized. Recently I found a nail in some cremains and was not very happy with my crematory operator. After the question about gold teeth, there is very very little gold in a gold filling or crown. I once had a family that insisted we have the gold extracted from the teeth prior to the cremation. The dentist charged 200 bucks to come take the crowns out and they yielded about six dollars worth of gold. You’d be better off to go down the expressway picking up pop bottles.
 
I can't imagine a family requesting that a FD remove a loved one's gold fillings! That is beyond insane! I think I would request that they take their business elsewhere! I can hardly believe that there is a dentist out there that would do that.
 
A gold crown is less the 10 thousands thick. When i asked about that at the facility i was told that thinks like that disappear in the heat. Gold is subject to high heat wil vaporize.
 
Reason behind the question is way too lengthy. I'm trying to help a friend and haven't been able to get answers.

Woman 5 feet tall and 150 pounds is cremated and the cremains are sent to the widower in a baggie via USPS Priority Mail by the medical institution that had the body. This was in no way a polite situation, and Lawyers became involved.

The widower is absolutely certain all of his wife was not returned. Xray of the ashes shows no trace of the Titanium plates in her skull, or stainless in her spine.

I'm wondering if there is a "normal" weight for the remains of the woman.
Thanks

EVERY crematory would remove the titanium plate and stainless steel remnants prior to running the ash and bone fragments through the grinder. The last thing they would want is to run any unnecesary metal though their grinder. Pace makers are always removed prior to being placed in the retort as they will, and do, explode causing damage to the retort(and making a real mess!). Would the widower seriously want these metal pieces back?? People are really screwed up and, obviously, don't have enough to fuss about!
 
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As I said, this is a sad story.
Woman was married and a resident of NY State.
She died alone and suddenly while visiting her daughter in Alabama.

Alabama ain't my turf, so I can't say how things get done there, but my understanding is the daughter donated Mom's body to get her off the couch after the FD explained some school would pay the removal costs.

Also, the husband was never notified of the death until 4 days later when the son of the deceased arrived at his house with local Police to get his hands on Mom's property. He left empty handed with Police assuring him he'd best behave.

Widower was fortunate enough to have some contacts in the Medical world, as well as a pocket full of Lawyer money. The school at first didn't want to return the remains, and finally agreed to cremate & return.

From where I sit, there is no good outcome.
Thanks for the info guys.
 
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