Unclaimed corpses push up urban morgue body counts

[WhiskeyGirl]

Times are tough for the living in Detroit and unforgiving for dozens — like McNeil, Webber and Jones — dying alone and poor in the economically distressed city. Taxpayers increasingly are paying to dispose of unclaimed bodies in cities and towns throughout the U.S., but the problem appears more acute in Detroit, where nearly a third of working adults are without a job and the poverty rate has reached 33.8 percent.

As bagged and tagged bodies pile cold and stiff in the Wayne County medical examiner's two refrigerated storage rooms and one freezer, some next of kin are faced with two options: paying for a funeral out of their pockets or keeping their own families above water.

"People are losing their homes. They can't keep food on the table," said Albert Samuels, medical examiner's chief investigator. "There's no way we can compel somebody to come and bury their loved ones."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-burying-the-poor,0,7181900.story