If it is a dead body and it is being cremated you take it out so it doesn't explode in the crematorium. I say this as a former funeral director who had to remove them.
Even if HN mostly consists of people engaged in building or maintaining technology, technology is in every industry, so the discussion can credibly touch nearly every topic with some interesting depth.
I'm curious whether it was standard practice for you to check for a pacemaker prior to cremation or whether the process relied on a family member informing you?
An X-ray machine has capital and operating expenses, requires significant safety measures, licensing/inspection (at least in the US), and a trained technician.
That all is significantly more expensive than saying "you hand us a form telling us whether there's a pacemaker or not, and if you fuck it up you get in trouble."
I assume it's mostly an issue with the li-ion battery pacemakers? Plutonium wouldn't explode, though the casing may crack which would be less than ideal.
yeah, in england the resident doctors in training would get paid 25 pounds to certify there was no such device in a body, it was unofficially known as “ash cash”
