How Donating Your Body to Science Works

Exactly How Does the Body-Donation Process Work?

There's no one set process for body donation since each organization has its own set of rules. However, the process generally works something like this: First, you need to figure out where you want your body to go — you can choose among a particular university-affiliated medical school (the most common option), a private organization or a government agency. You'll need to fill out a donor consent form ahead of time. Make sure your family knows of your decision, and that you have it written into your will. It's also possible for your family to make the decision to donate your body at the time of your death [sources: US-Funerals, Miller].

Once you die, your chosen institution will determine if it will accept your body. There is no guarantee it will. While factors like age and ethnicity don't matter, institutions might decline donors with HIV 1 or 2, an AIDS-related death, Hepatitis B or C, syphilis, kidney failure or jaundice, a severe bacterial or viral infection resulting in isolation and extensive trauma. They also typically turn away corpses topping 300 pounds (136 kilograms) [sources: US-Funerals, Aleccia]. Since there is a chance a school, organization or agency might decline your body, make sure you make alternate arrangements. You don't want your loved ones suddenly stranded with a dead body.

If your chosen institution accepts your body, that group typically covers all associated costs, including transportation, filing of the death certificate, cremation after use and the return of cremated remains [source: Science Care]. Some groups do require that you arrange to deliver the body to them, especially if they are in another state.

What happens once your body is in a particular institution's hands depends on where you donated your body and that group's mission. But most places will not let you donate your body for a specific purpose — they want to be able to use your body as needed. Medical facilities generally require your body to come with all of its organs, meaning you can't donate your body and also be an organ donor. Other groups, such as Science Care, do allow both organ donation and whole-body donation [sources: Miller, Science Care].

When the group finishes with your body, the leftovers are cremated and returned to your family. No family receives compensation for a body donation; that's illegal [source: Miller].

Grave Robbers

Body donations are a relatively new practice. In the early 19th century, British medical students trained using the corpses of criminals sentenced to death. Fortunately, yet unfortunately, such crimes dropped, resulting in a lack of corpses. That situation gave rise to a new occupation — grave robber. Ne'er-do-wells realized it was quite lucrative to dig up corpses and sell them to medical schools. Perhaps worse, the supposedly upstanding professionals at the London Hospital started using the bodies of poor folks who bit the dust at the hospital for study. And two Edinburgh grave robbers, who apparently ran into hard times, began murdering people in order to continue providing bodies [source: Kennedy].