In the majority of deaths, a person is either with someone else or their body is discovered very soon afterward. To put it in perspective, often within hours of the death we can have the direct cremation process underway, start the paperwork and get transport arranged.
But that’s not always the case. Sometimes the remains aren’t discovered for days, weeks or longer after the death. As we’ve discussed before, the body decomposition process begins immediately. That leads to the question, how long after a death can you cremate?
There are limitations to cremation, and decomposition is one of them. Continue reading for an explanation of how long after a death cremation can be performed.
The Tissue and Bone Balance of Cremation
Understanding the timeline for direct cremation is easier when you know a bit about the process. Cremation works by either dissolving body tissue (the skin, joints and organs) with an alkaline water solution or more commonly by incinerating the tissue using heat.
No matter what option you choose, at the end of the process the tissue is gone and all that’s left are the bones. Therefore, whether cremation is possible is determined by the presence of body tissue. To determine that, we must turn our attention to the body decomposition timeline.
Cremation Process is Completely Possible Up to 3 Weeks After Death
There are a lot of misconceptions about decomposition because of what’s dramatized on TV and in movies. Many people mistakenly believe that a body will start wasting away immediately when in reality active decaying of the body tissue doesn’t begin until around 23 days after death. Before that things are happening at the cellular level, and although there are external changes after the death, the tissue is intact.
Biologically speaking, cremation is possible and fairly standard procedure up to this point since most of the changes from decomposition have happened internally.
After 50 Days Cremation Isn’t an Option
Once body tissue starts to decompose it’s a relatively quick process. Within 27 days, around 50 days after the death, the body will be fully decomposed and only the bones will remain. At that level of body decomposition cremation isn’t possible. The family will have two options: bury the bones as they would the body shortly after death or have the bones turned into cremains.
It’s the body tissue that’s incinerated during cremation, and it’s the bones that are used to make cremated remains. Some funeral homes still provide the second part of the service after the 50-day mark when the rest of the cremation process is essentially already complete.
Direct Cremate can provide no-hassle, affordable cremation no matter what situation you find yourself in after a family member’s death. Give us a call or text to see what we can do to help you arrange cremation services.