Real-Life Decision Making -- Solution
You opt for a closed-casket service.
You deny the family their wishes. This is the real-life decision made by funeral director Michael Hedden.
Hedden had a terrible time thinking this one out, but in the end he says he was happy with his choice. The service went well.
"Basically, I had no right to do that to them -- to say no -- but I had to put my foot down," he says. "In the end, I still feel very strongly about the decision I made. The fiancee, who was a nurse, came by later and she said, 'You know, I think you made the right choice for us.'"
While Hedden admits that granting the family's wishes would have been the "correct" thing to do, he also knows it's the job of a funeral director to ensure that the family goes away feeling good about the grieving process.
"Funerals are very much for the living, for those of us that are left behind," Hedden says. "This is one time when I had to make the decision. If they were to see their loved one like that, it would have been their last memory of him."