Podcast Summary

Podcast: New Books Network
Host: Stephen Pimpare
Guest: Amy Shea, author of Too Poor to Die: The Hidden Realities of Dying in the Margins (Rutgers UP, 2025)
Date: October 24, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode delves into the overlooked realities faced by the unhoused, indigent, and unclaimed at the end of life, as explored in Amy Shea's forthcoming book, Too Poor to Die. Through personal narrative, research, and on-the-ground insights, Shea exposes how poverty shapes—and often limits—the options, dignity, and agency available to people in death, while also interrogating broader social systems and the “death positivity” movement. The conversation is both sobering and hopeful, concluding with inspiring examples of hospice care for the unhoused.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins of the Book & Personal Connection

• Amy Shea’s Background

  • Writing Program Director at Mount Tamil Pius College, offering free college education to incarcerated people at San Quentin.
  • The book was inspired by her father’s volunteer work mapping graves in Fresno County’s “potter’s field,” leading to uncovering forgotten burial grounds for those who died in poverty.
  • Shea’s initial confrontation with a potter’s field—a stark, barren landscape “hidden” from view—profoundly shaped her understanding of social marginalization in death.

  “It doesn’t look like a cemetery... There was this real dichotomy, this real difference. ...On the other side of the fence was what was essentially a dirt field with some weed and scores of cement strips that went through with little numbers on it. And that’s how they mark the plots there.”
  —Amy Shea (03:25)

2. What Does It Mean to Be “Unclaimed”?

• Discussion of county disposition programs and the complexities behind the word “unclaimed.”

• Three common scenarios for county burial:

  1. No known next of kin and no financial resources; county intervenes.
  2. Next of kin found but unable to afford burial, relinquish responsibility to county.
  3. Next of kin choose not to be involved; again, responsibility passes to the county.

• Shea notes that “unclaimed” can be a misnomer—often, there are loved ones, but poverty or distance prevents traditional funeral rites.

  “There’s never anything shameful about the county taking over and doing this... it’s work that needs to be done ultimately.... Unclaimed makes it sound as though, well, one like their property, and two, like there’s no one there. And that’s also a real common misconception.”
  —Amy Shea (07:19)

3. The High Cost of Death & Financial Barriers

• Median cost of burial: ~$8,000; cremation with services: >$6,000 (as of 2025).

• County-paid cremations/burials cost as little as $250–$300, but even claiming remains carries a fee—inaccessible to many.

• Memorialization, even at its most basic, is often out of reach for those in poverty.

  “What happens to someone who can’t afford $6,000 to be dead?”
  —Amy Shea, reading from her book (09:08)

4. Dying Alone & Media Narratives

• Extended reflection on the documentary A Certain Kind of Death (Los Angeles County), which chronicles the process when people die unclaimed.

• Media often frames dying alone as especially tragic, yet Shea questions this assumption:

  “Some people maybe don’t mind or want to die alone... What I’m ultimately advocating for this whole book is agency and autonomy around how you die. And for some people, dying alone is actually what they want.”
  —Amy Shea (14:38)

5. The Death Positivity Movement: Strengths & Shortcomings

• “Death positivity” advocates discussions about mortality, often among privileged populations.

• Shea’s critique: these conversations are less accessible to the poor or unhoused, who may lack the resources—or time—to contemplate their own end-of-life wishes.

  “We’re having all these conversations because we’re very privileged to be able to do so... What happens to all the people who can’t... afford the time to think about these things?”
  —Amy Shea (18:25)

6. Societal Perceptions & Fear of the Unhoused

• Societal fear of unhoused people often reflects discomfort with the fragility of economic security and failures of the system.

• Being unhoused can feel like a “mirror” showing how precarious anyone’s circumstances might become.

  “We fear what we don’t know. ...They highlight just how precarious your spot on the rung within capitalism could be.”
  —Amy Shea (20:45)

7. Housing as Healthcare

• Adequate, supportive housing is fundamental to health; mere shelter is insufficient.

• Chronic homelessness accelerates health decline, leading to earlier, often more isolated deaths.

  “You can’t get ahead and get out from under things if you’re constantly battling to survive on the streets. ...That housing has to come along with other things... supportive services.”
  —Amy Shea (22:24)

8. Hope: Hospice Care for the Unhoused

• The “in between”—a large respite and hospice center in the US—offers dignified end-of-life care for unhoused people.

• Programs include “No One Dies Alone,” training volunteers to sit with dying patients, respecting their wishes for company.

• These initiatives, though rare, provide compassion and a sense of community at the end of life.

  “All I could think is... the first thought I had after being there was like, can I come here to die? Because it was just that kind of place. There was that kind of care and love and compassion.”
  —Amy Shea (26:10)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You don’t just suddenly pop up and end up in a potter’s field.”
  —Amy Shea (07:11)

• “If you want those cremated remains back from them, you also have to cough up that $300. You won’t get it for free. And as I think we all understand, $300 can be a lot for some people.”
  —Amy Shea (09:48)

• “Some people, maybe don’t mind or want to die alone... I think Ronald Eugene Tanner in that film is a really good example of that. I think he chose ultimately knowing that he was to be found.”
  —Amy Shea (13:53)

• “We fear what we don’t know...they also highlight just how precarious your spot on the rung within capitalism could be.”
  —Amy Shea (20:45)

Important Timestamps

• 03:25 — Amy Shea describes her first encounter with a “potter’s field” and its emotional impact
• 07:11 — Explanation of how people become “unclaimed”
• 08:21–09:48 — Breakdown of funeral costs, quote from Shea’s book on being “too poor to die”
• 10:40–15:55 — Extended discussion of A Certain Kind of Death and the experience of dying alone
• 16:41–18:25 — Critique of the “death positivity” movement and class barriers to end-of-life planning
• 20:45 — On society’s fear of homelessness and what it reveals about ourselves
• 22:24 — Why supportive housing is necessary for health and dignity
• 24:42–27:55 — Stories of hope via unhoused hospice care and “No One Dies Alone” programs

Tone & Final Reflections

Despite confronting the grim realities of poverty and death, Shea’s insights offer empathy, urgency, and ultimately hope for more just end-of-life care. The episode closes by highlighting the dignity and agency that are possible, even for people living and dying on society’s margins—if only systems and communities choose to provide it.

“There has been so much joy and so much hope as well... There are these amazing people working as hard as possible to fill whatever gaps they can within the healthcare system.” —Amy Shea (25:03)

For listeners:
This conversation will deeply inform anyone interested in social justice, end-of-life care, homelessness, and the boundary between public policy and personal dignity.