Physician's sideline extends 6 feet under

A South Carolina family physician runs an eco-friendly cemetery.

By Tyler Chin, AMNews staff. March 15, 2004.

From time to time, patients visiting the office of Westminster, S.C., family physician Billy Campbell, MD, ask him about his side business.

"Sometimes I'll be seeing patients and they say, 'Look, doctor, I know I'm here about my blood pressure, but do you have any information about your cemetery?' "

Since 1998, Dr. Campbell has operated Memorial Ecosystems Inc., which does "green burials" -- an ecologically friendly way to bring life after death.

Coffins interred at Ramsey Creek Nature Preserve, a 37-acre woodland owned by Memorial Ecosystems, are made of nontoxic, biodegradable wood or reinforced cardboard. Bodies, stored and prepared by a local funeral home, aren't embalmed, so they decompose quickly, helping to nourish and restore burial areas. Grave sites are marked by flat inscribed stones, plants, flowers or trees.

"The graves become natural areas by themselves," Dr. Campbell said. Memorial Ecosystems restricts burials to spaces that have been plowed, farmed or overtaken by invasive species that need to be eradicated. "The burials help return that particular space where someone is actually buried to a very vital, growing living condition."

Dr. Campbell said the side business merges his passion about environmental issues with an interest in how and why the dead are buried. Still, it took Dr. Campbell 19 years to act on his idea of an environmentally friendly cemetery. He said he struggled with whether it was appropriate for a physician, whose job is to save lives, to run a cemetery.