Mastodon The Bereavement Register -UK ~ Pallimed

Monday, October 2, 2006

The Bereavement Register -UK

Well, keeping well-read on all the latest medical journals is just part of what we do here at Pallimed. But as I heard over and over again in medical school at UCSD, it is important to be a well-rounded person. So in my free time I really enjoy reading music blogs, so I can find new bands with new sounds, and not get stuck only listening to music I liked in high school or college. So luckily I stumbled over a post on Stereogum which had a link from Rock Daily, which had a link from the BBC about a survey done asking 5,000 British people what song they would like played at their funeral. Here are the top 10 songs Brits would like played at their funeral.

1. Goodbye My Lover - James Blunt
2. Angels - Robbie Williams
3. I've Had the Time of My Life - Jennifer Warnes and Bill Medley
4. Wind Beneath My Wings - Bette Midler
5. Pie Jesu - Requiem
6. Candle in the Wind - Elton John
7. With or Without You - U2
8. Tears in Heaven - Eric Clapton
9. Every Breath You Take - The Police
10. Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers

Source: The Bereavement Register

Very interesting choices. They also found that 51% of people know what song they want played at their funeral. Also, they found that 79% of people had discussed their choices with another person. If we had some time we could go into discussing the lyrics and their meanings, but I will let you do that on your own. But with some further exploring (I love the web for that!), I was curious to find out who or what The Bereavement Register is...

The Bereavement Register
is a service organised (I will even type in the Queen's English) by a direct mail company to decrease the amount of mail sent to a deceased person. Yes you read that right, a company that sends you junk mail that you don't want is behind this very kind service. The Bereavement Register has found that a deceased person in the UK receives on average, 80 pieces of mail. They have accomplished quite a bit since being founded in 2000, even expanding to France and Canada. They also have an acoompanying service to prevent unwanted telemarketing calls. By including this registration information on all death certificate envelopes and getting the support of the funeral industry they have provided a pretty good service that probably goes unnoticed, since as a bereaved family member, you would only become upset or frustrated if you receive the unwanted direct mail.

Anyway, I wish we had one of these services in America. Maybe we already do, but I have not heard about it. I wonder if anyone has ever surveyed family memebrs about unwanted solicitation after the death of a loved one. If I only had a research centre, and a million pounds.

Cheeri-O!

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