10 MUSTS for EVERY Ethical Funeral Professional

1.  Strict adherence to The Funeral Rule.  Obv. 

2. Guide families to choose financially responsible funerals that won’t make them “funeral poor”.

3. Educate families in alternative options even if those options are detrimental to the bottom line.

4. Always choose transparency and disclosure over secrecy and intention omission.

5. Make sure every choice the family makes is completely theirs sans sales pressure.

6. Integrity is doing what’s right when nobody is looking.  Ethical funeral directors always practice integrity.

7.  Never encourage families to purchase out of guilt, or equate love of the deceased with a high priced funeral.

8. Never put yourself or the business in a financially strenuously situation where you might be tempted to overprice your service and merchandise.

9. Practice responsible self-care to avoid burnout and compassion fatigue.   

10.  Know your knowledge boundaries.  Direct those questions outside our professional knowledge to the people who are qualified to answer.  We aren’t lawyers, doctors, grief counselors or theologians.