Patent ID: 7496995

Claim:
A body containment device for storing a deceased body, comprising: a substantially elongate upper impervious flexible panel member and a substantially elongate lower impervious flexible panel member; the upper and lower panel members being arranged in a facing relationship and each having an inside surface, an outside surface, opposed side edges and opposed ends, respective side edges of the upper and lower panel members being sealingly joined together or formed integrally therealong, the upper and lower panel members being movable relative to each other to form a cavity between their inside surfaces, the opposed ends forming respective ends of the device with at least one of the ends being openable so that the deceased body can be inserted through the at least one open end into the cavity for storage; a sealing arrangement for sealingly closing the at least one open end by application of heat and/or pressure thereto, whereby the cavity is hermetically sealed; a fluid absorbent composition on the inside surface of said lower panel member for absorbing at least some of said gaseous and/or liquid decomposition products escaping from said body; and at least one pressure release means arranged through an aperture in said upper panel member for releasing pressure in the cavity when the pressure due to the gaseous and/or liquid decomposition products in the cavity exceeds a predetermined level, said at least one pressure release means having a first housing member configured with a first chamber therein and a second housing member configured with a second chamber therein, said first housing member being arranged within the cavity and said second housing member being arranged on said outside surface of the upper panel member, a pressure sensitive valve member being positioned between the first and second chambers and is arranged to open to allow the gaseous decomposition products to pass into the second chamber and through vents in said second housing member to atmosphere and thereby releasing pressure in the cavity when the pressure therein exceeds said predetermined level, said first chamber containing vapor retention media for substantially retaining vapor entrained in the gaseous decomposition products passing therethrough and said second chamber containing bacteria filtering media for substantially filtering bacteria before the filtered gaseous decomposition products passing through said vents.