In the cold cells at Uppsala's mortuary, there are currently six deceased who have been lying there for more than a month.
Two bodies have been lying down since the autumn of 2021. And the problem of "slower" is constant.
Even though the Funeral Act has been changed from two months to a month before a deceased person is to be cremated or buried, the staff does not notice any major difference.
"Unfortunately, we always have someone with us, it can be anything from three to five that are replaced," says section manager Anette von Malmborg.
The staff at the mortuary feel powerless and think that these people fall between the chairs.
- We do our job here, after three weeks we contact the authorities and then we can not do more, it is balled back and forth and it is we who stand here with the deceased who then requires extra care, says Anette von Malmborg.
Wants a change in the law
- It is not ethically defensible to lie for several months in a refrigerator, Diari Ghafouri, department manager at the mortuary in Uppsala.
The mortuary staff also want a change in the law that would make it possible to cremate the body, even if no relatives have acted.
"Violation of privacy"
In an email to SVT, the Ministry of Culture, which decides on the Funeral Act, responds to the proposal.
“The law is designed to protect the will of the deceased and the rights of the relatives.
Basically, the law is designed so that it does not take more than a month to bury a deceased person.
Changing the funeral law to, for example, force someone to cremate against their will would mean a lot of complicated legal changes, but also a violation of the deceased's integrity ", writes Linda Söderberg, communicator at the Ministry of Culture, and adds:
"There is already a legal space today that makes it possible for the Swedish Tax Agency to make a decision on the execution of a funeral, if the relatives do not take their own responsibility."
In the clip: Hear the mortuary staff describe the work with the "long legs".