Storage Spaces for Dead Expanding with Occupant Sizes

York, Pa. - Coping with America's growing obesity doesn't end with death.

York County Coroner Barry Bloss recently said York Hospital's laboratory is considering renovating its morgue because bodies of more than 300 pounds can't fit into the drawers.

Because of the increasing number of obese bodies, the hospital is considering switching from its drawer system to a refrigerated room where the deceased can be wheeled in on litters.

Apparently, it's a growing problem for those dealing with death.

"There really is not an area untouched by this trend," said Scott McSparran, the marketing director for The York Group, a local maker of coffins.

To make room for our expanding waistlines, the wooden-casket manufacturer will increase the interior width of its 2007 standard-sized model from 22 inches to 24 inches.

Unlike, say, airplane seats, the expansion isn't necessary for user comfort.

"But we don't want to give the appearance of the deceased being crammed into a casket," McSparran said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has termed America's growing obesity as "an epidemic." According to data from the National Center for Health Statistics, 30 percent of U.S. adults 20 years of age and older - more than 60 million people - are obese, or more than 30 percent over their ideal weight.

Those statistics now follow us to the grave.

The York Group is the second largest manufacturer of caskets in America, and it is a leading manufacturer of all-wood caskets. It's owned by Pittsburgh-based Matthews International Corp., a leading manufacturer of bronze memorials.

Since 2002, sales of wood oversize caskets have tripled - a sale trend McSparran expects will continue to grow.

The standard size, he said, "just doesn't do it for a lot of our customers anymore."

In 1930, the interior width of the company's typical coffin was about 21 inches, McSparran said.

Today, Matthews makes four different oversize models, including "The Whitney," a metal casket with a 35-inch interior width.

Those who retrieve bodies have also noticed the changes.

Ernie Heffner of Heffner Funeral Homes said he more frequently needs to bring along extra people when transporting bodies to help with the lifting.

Paramedics and emergency medical technicians have also had to struggle increasingly with overweight patients and bodies.

Consequently, the number of back injuries industry-wide has been increasing, said David Gent, an EMT with Red Lion Ambulance, located near York, who has suffered back pain from lifting people too heavy for him. They are required to ask for assistance for any patient weighing more than 250 pounds.

In order to "save our backs," Gent said, Red Lion recently purchased two new stretchers to accommodate greater weight. The stretchers use hydraulics, rather than muscle, to lift and lower patients.

But as others grapple with how to deal with the increasing size of the dead, Jack Sommer said he doesn't think it's yet affected the cemeteries. The manager of Prospect Hill Cemetery and Cremation Gardens in York said he deals with oversize caskets periodically. And occasionally, he needs to custom order a vault.

"I do about 300 burials a year," Sommer said. "But I can't say that I'm seeing an increase statistically in oversize caskets." Heffner said the reason is that the casket industry so far has been able to design models that still fit in a standard-size vault.

While caskets are getting roomier, the expansion design has focused, so far, on the interior - not unlike the auto industry redesigning a compact car for added legroom.

But if Americans keep putting on the weight, eventually cemeteries will need to redesign as well. Then, burial plots will have to get bigger, mausoleums will hold fewer bodies and "you won't get as many spaces in a family plot," Heffner said.

"If it's not impacting cemeteries yet," he said, "it will."