One size does not fit all

Right: Family photo provided by Ann Hines that was taken of her and husband James Hines in Jan. 2004 about nine months before he died of skin cancer in Allendale, S.C. The albino African American man was a preacher and folk musician.

After the initial "surprise" reaction I can't help but wonder, is this so "bad"?

The South Carolina funeral board has revoked the licenses of a funeral home and its director for cutting the legs of a 6-foot-7 man so his corpse would fit in a casket, AP reported Tuesday.

State licensing spokesman Jim Knight says the Board of Funeral Service voted Monday to revoke the funeral director license of Michael Cave and the license of Cave Funeral Services of Allendale, according to the report.

Knight says the board also fined Cave the maximum $500 and ordered him to pay $1,500 for the investigation.

Cave could not be reached for comment, AP reported.

The body of James Hines was exhumed in April because of rumors that circulated after he died in 2004. His widow said investigators told her his legs had been cut off between the ankle and calf to fit the coffin.

A former funeral employee had alleged since Hines' death from skin cancer in 2004 that he was too tall for his coffin and that the funeral home took extreme measures to make him fit, Allendale County Coroner Hayzen Black told CNN in April.

What does happen with the bodies of very tall men like basketball players and extremely heavy people? If they're not cremated, do they require custom-made caskets?

I'm not sure what to think about this.

While an unpleasant thought at first, it then becomes...logical, doesn't it? Plus, it's just a body, a corpse. So why should it matter that the legs had to be shortened to fit it in the coffin? Yet, if it had been my father or my brother...this is tough one, if you ask me.

Sources: The Associated Press, CNN, newsvine.com
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