European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 29, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The right to a natural death9 by Bob Egelko associated press in Ley died the Way he wanted peacefully and without the indignity of respirators and other life sustaining who died last june at age was one of the first to take advantage of a landmark California Law giving Termi Nally ill patients the right to a natural the Law Hutchens and his had helped to lobby for went into effect just a week after doctors told hut Chens that he had cancer of the before the month was Hutchens filed a living will with his doctor saying he didst want his life prolonged he knew he was going to Hutchens i said to him in the Hospi if anything should do you want everything left just As it is or do you want to change it he just leave it As it they just gave him Ordinary Orange and very Seldom a sleeping on the last i saw him at he  sit they had to turn i wiped his face with a he dont do that any i have to go to two hours later he was his death on june 28 was As he Hutchens and in the same circumstances she would like to die the same 1c i thought there was no possible i would want to go Why prolong it with artificial things i have a written the same As he we signed it at the same the California hotly contested by pro lifers and since adopted in some form by a Hal dozen other has stringent living will advocate husbands hard sell in the funeral Home by Julie Frederikse associated press the William Wendt is studying Socie Tys attitudes toward so he devised a clinical training program Cor himself at the Start of a sabbatical from Washington Stephen and the incarnation episcopal he apprenticed himself to an undertaker for a i thought it would be marvelous exposure to a group of very mysterious people funeral directors to an elusive he picked up bodies at hospitals and Homes and took them to the funeral assisted in funeral arrangements and embalming and attended Funer he says he emerged from his apprenticeship with respect for funeral directors As hardworking professionals responding to the needs of but i also say that they Coster those needs the practices and products they sell they Are not in the business of offering the funeral Industry not Only takes advantage of our death denying it perpetuates the myth that death will always come to somebody else by discouraging an honest and open acceptance of the death of a loved hard sell be surprised in the casket Cor funeral directors will prominently display the most expensive the cheaper caskets Are in the often in unattractive colors designed to turn off the Wendt says certain phrases in the sales pitch make it harder for a bereaved person to request a less expensive package of people Are frequently told that this is the last gift of love you can give or i would want my Mother buried this a person who didst see the need for a casket with an innerspring mattress was chided with the would you put your father to rest on anything that want comfortable Wendt looks unkindly on the practice of embalm which he contends manifests the Basic death defying nature of the funeral he doubts that the bereaved Are aided by viewing the body in an open and embalming is no longer a pre requisite for an open casket even if its held several Days after he considers cremation a Good alternative to the traditional funeral and suggests that the funeral Industry frowns on it for economic during his month at the be cremation was never suggested unless the family asked for criticisms like wends Are disputed by the funeral most people want and like what they get at a traditional says Howard executive director of the National funeral directors who has debated Wendt in and Daniel general counsel for National selected says his organization adheres to a code of practices that would preclude the kind of dubious conduct Wendt says he Obser the Federal Trade commission has proposed a series of regulations designed to give people More information about including an itemized list of prices and the Industry opposes Price Wendt thinks Federal regulations would be a step but his concerns Are More people must be Able to come to terms with death on a personal so that we can restore this last rite of passage As a meaningful rather than death defy ing theres Little Effort on the part of the Church to help people Deal with Bereave and All the ramifications of a a real need for a mediator Between the funeral director and the family of the toward that Wendt helped found the Francis burial society in 1974 which offers Sonand counsel on death and dying and advocates a in def approach to funerals that is epitomized by the Pine coffins its members Are encouraged to the society Sells Pine coffins for it encourages members to prepare far in we Bdl Eye that people can buy Pine before they says my priest says with a As i incidental to wends to without a sense of i now i could Nave survived my month in the my whole undertaker in successfully marketed White and Blue Bicentennial c k Page 10 the stars and stripes january help develop a counselling Francis burial society for those who Are dealing with the deaths of family members my we should be Able to talk openly about our with our families Long before death we Jive to reverse the whole death denying pro