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When Oregonians die alone
 
11:58
The Oregonian -  Welcome to our chat with The Oregonian's Anne Saker about the state's Indigent Burial Fund, which since 1993 has covered the funeral costs for the unclaimed Oregon dead.
11:58
The Oregonian -  Here is   Anne's Sunday story.
11:58
The Oregonian -  You can also browse a searchable database of the burial fund from January 2000 to April 2009.
11:58
The Oregonian -  Here is a video of Duane Bigoni of the state medical examiner's office, on how he searches for next of kin:
11:58
The Oregonian -  
11:59
The Oregonian -  Please add your questions and comments for Anne, who will be with us for about an hour.
11:59
The Oregonian -  Anne, maybe you could start by telling us how you came upon this topic.
11:59
Anne Saker -  Thank you, Joel. (Joel Odom, everyone!)
12:00
Anne Saker -  Two years ago, my colleague Michelle Roberts told readers about Robert Anheier, who had been mistakenly sent to OHSU as a cadaver for the anatomy lab.
12:00
Anne Saker -  Afterward, my editor at the time, Tom Maurer, asked me to follow up by asking OHSU for a list of all the unclaimed dead it accepted as cadavers.
12:01
Anne Saker -  OHSU said no at first, and you can read a little bit more about the hunt for the public documents in our story from Sunday. (Joel, could you post the link for that, too, please?)
12:02
The Oregonian -  Sure, here's that story.
12:02
Anne Saker -  Once we finally got the documents this year, my current editor Margaret Haberman and I decided we would go back to the first case, Mr. Anheier, and see what the situation was in terms of the hunt for next of kin. ... The unclaimed dead is a pretty common newspaper staple -- almost every paper does one almost every year. This story is different because we focused not on the dead but on the living.
12:04
The Oregonian -  In some cases, isn't it correct that you were the one who told the family members what happened to their dead relatives?
12:05
Anne Saker -  Yes, in several instances the families did not know 1) that the relative was dead at all or 2) that they had ended up at OHSU. What surprised me was how calmly and almost peacefully these folks took the news. ... as if somehow, something good came out of a sad life.
12:06
The Oregonian -  The law gives authorities 10 days to track down the next of kin. Several commenters have noted that is a narrow window. Do you know how that compares with other states' policies?
12:07
Anne Saker -  10 days is about the standard. Some go for two weeks. But keep in mind, we are talking about a truly "perishable" item. The human body doesn't keep very long. A body that isn't disposed of can be a public health hazard.
12:08
The Oregonian -  Aside from the calm reactions of the relatives that you mentioned, what else surprised you during your reporting for this story?
12:09
Anne Saker -  First, I was surprised at the reluctance of state officials to release the records. There was truly nothing at stake and nothing to lose. So the two-year search left me a little puzzled.
12:10
Anne Saker -  Second, I was surprised at how many people we were actually talking about -- 1,847 since January 2000 through April 2009. It's not a large number in relation to how many people die in Oregon every year (30,000 plus).
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