Donating Your Body To Science

[monkey68]

If you donate your body, does that mean that the family cannot have a wake/visitation? I'm also curious why they would have a weight limit. I would think that with the rise in obesity in the US it would be beneficial for them to have larger bodies.

I don't think they can, but I don't know that much detail. I do know they need to start the preservation process though. But then again, I really have no clue. They can't give the family back the body after they've done the preservation because it will just be scary looking. They shave the hair off, and sometimes the chemicals react weird with the body and they turn a lovely green shade.

As for the weight limit, I for one am very glad they have it. First off, the tables probably can't hold more than 300 pounds. If the schools had to go and buy new tables, that would be a load more money for us. Secondly, the students basically have to scrape all the fat off, and that can take a long long time. And you really don't learn anything from it. Anatomy lab is the time to see 3D relationships, and the fat basically just gets in the way and you can spend a good hour or 2 of the lab time just cleaning fat off muscle. Also, dead person fat is quite a bit different consistency than living fat, in a live person, the fat is much softer and easier to dissect away if you need to. So at least from a med school perspective, there is no point for larger bodies. It just puts more work onto the students, and you already only have a limited amount of time in lab. The attachments of muscles and the path of the arteries and nerves aren't any different in a larger person, and that's the point of anatomy lab. And then, when the organs are covered in fat as well, it's also quite a bit more difficult. We had a hard time with the heart because we easily had the plumpest person in the lab, and there was a good 2 inches of fat stuck onto the walls of the heart, making it impossible to see any of the sinuses or cardiac vessels.

 

[olena]

My friend is studying forensic pathology. This summer she is working on a body farm and she talks about how hard it is to get donations. They have to supplement with pigs at times.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I personally didn't see anybody ever disrespecting a body. Sure, we may have joked about some of the more interesting tattoos, or certain implants one of the gentlemen had, pretty much every group named their cadaver. Yes, people would complain in the beginning about the insane amount of fat that some of them had, and at the end, those with skinny bodies were complainign about how dried out they were, but it's nothing bad. You can't expect people to be serious and solemn the entire time. I remember when we were dissecting the hand, our lady had some nasty arthritis when she was alive, and her entire hand was all contracted, and we couldn't get to the fingers. So our professor decided we should just cut one of the tendons to free up one of the fingers so we could dissect it. Didn't realize at the time, but realized it pretty much right away afterwards. For the rest of the year, our lovely lady was flipping the bird to everybody that walked past We all joked about it, laughed about Millie having an attitude, but it's not in a disrespectful way. Just because it really was quite amusing, and because it's such an abnormal experience, you do what you can to get through it, even if it means joking around.

Thank you for saving me the trouble of explaining why I would never donate a body to a medical school. I've seen this type of "joking" with live people; can imagine what goes on when they're dead. I'm with you, Eeyore's Butterfly.

I've instructed my loved ones that if any of my organs can be used for donation, they are more than welcome to them. I would also do the same if I were making the decision for someone else.

Autopsy? Having seen one, I would not consent to that, either, unless it was absolutely necessary (ie sudden death, murder, etc).

Cat dissection? Yup, HAD to do it. It disgusted me and I didn't learn much from it. Would have preferred a 3D/realistic model of a human. I remember eating my lunch in the classroom as the professor was "setting up" for dissection. He walked around literally throwing frozen cats onto each desk. Respect there? None whatsoever. I wasn't one of the students who thought it was "cool", and not much could be learned from working with a frozen cat.

Lost organs? Happens a lot. Just read the paper, or google.

My understanding is that a lot of the bodies used for medical research, ie given to medical schools, are from poor countries like India whose donors are paid before their deaths.

JMO

 

[Jsme]

We have considered doing this. I already am signed up as a donor and my DH knows my wishes on this subject. I have not made up my mind whether to donate my body to science or to just donate organs.

However, if we were to go at the same time and my mother is still living she has already told me she would not abide by my wishes. She does not like the idea of me trying to help others. She is selfish and thinks no one should donate anything. Like she can use it when she is dead. She was furious when the kids were toddlers because I mentioned I would donate any organ of theirs. Of course it is hard to think that way but one of our neighbors had a grandchild that died before she turned 1 and if she could have gotten a transplant she would have lived. Most people do not think to donate a small child's organs and most small children can not take any other than another small child's organ. Then you add in all the other typing it makes it difficult for a small child to receive any transplants.

 

[HelenePA]

They charge to pick up their donation? Holy Crap! That's awful!!!

I had to pay 129$ plus 8$ per death certificate I wanted... best part of it all? I had to pay by paypal..

 

[bumbershoot]

I benefitted from such a donation twice. In university anatomy lab, we were able to study an already dissected cadaver from the UW medical school.

Then in chiropractic school, we got a "new" cadaver, and we studied the same person for 3 quarters worth of classes, with one quarter in between to take Embryology.

Both were absolutely invaluable.


I don't think a person could study "an institution" to see how "they" treat their donated cadavers, because it's all up to the individuals in the class. One class can be full of absolute jerks, while the other classes have very respectful people. The class ahead of mine in chiro school had had one infamous day, that was told and re-told to others, and EVERYONE was horrified by that one day of that one class. They had some very strong personalities who became ringleaders one day, and they were very very lucky they weren't kicked out entirely for their behaviour, while the prof was not there, in anatomy lab.

You DO have to build walls around yourself in order to do the work. You can't constantly think of the person as a person, or it's impossible to work.


FWIW, the cadavers we worked with were not people with families...there was no one to return them to.

And they were by NO means complete. My class was small enough that there were only two cadavers, and I still remember very well the issues that the two people had had. It was incredibly interesting to find the operations our lady had had, over the course of the year...she was missing one kidney entirely, the other kidney had serious problems...she'd had some sort of brain surgery, etc etc. So you don't have to be complete, at least not for chiro school.

And while there was no weight limit guideline for our donees, and while it did take quite a bit of time to carefully reduce the excess adipose tissue, we found it to be VERY interesting (one of my friends and I were the main "do-ers" for our cadaver while our other classmates just watched, and he and I were interested in everything about our lady). So all places might not have weight limits.



I doubt that I would donate myself, but I am very glad to have had the learning experiences from the two cadavers I learned from.


And I think that those who had rotten experiences as high school students touring those med school labs need to write to those schools to express their feelings! At the very least, IMO, the schools need to stop taking teenagers into them.

 

[Green Tea]

A family member, while in pharmacy school, was provided a bucket of faces to work with. Yes, just faces.

 

[dolphinrescuegirl]

I have lots of health problems so I want my body donated so that something might be done in the future for someone who has the same problems. How's that for a run-on sentence?

 

[Darsa]

My nana did this, and I have made my intention to do the same very clear with my family. I think it is the most selfless thing one can do, and like it's been said, what're you gonna do with it once you're done with it? It's like, the coolest form of recycling I can think of!

 

[debbi801]

My father did this. He died March of 2008 of Idiopathic Pulminary Fibrosis. One of his doctors mentioned it to him and he decided that this is what he wanted to do. The people (from the scientific organization) that came for his body could not have been any more kind or empathetic. We just got his cremated remains back and he will be buried this summer.

 

[HGD24]

I worked for a university that uses cadavers for many of their programs. I can attest to you that they are handled very properly while they are in the care of the universities. The students who've gone through the programs say it's the best way to really learn what they need to learn about the human body. I already have the organ donor designation on my license and in my advance directive. I may donate my body to science too if I can. I've had some medical procedures done and I'm not sure if they'll accept me or not - but they can have whatever parts they want - I won't need them and I already plan on being cremated so I might as well !

My mom wanted to donate her organs in order to help others, but due to the circumstances of her death, we could only donate her corneas. One cornea was used for a transplant, the other for study since it had a microscopic defect. We received a letter a few weeks later saying that the transplant was successful and the recipient, who was blind due to a condition, was now able to see. It was such a wonderful feeling to know that our mother's wish had come true and that someone was given the gift of sight through her donation.

 

[HGD24]

However, if we were to go at the same time and my mother is still living she has already told me she would not abide by my wishes.

Have you completed an advance directive? You can stiplulate what you want done with your remains and it's a legal and binding document.

 

[HM]

Originally my parents were going to go that path. Then they found out some not so great things that could be done with their bodies, so instead have decided to give specific organs instead and let what is left be buried or cremated.

 

[ttester9612]

I think this is who my DH made his arrangements with -- or Johns Hopkins. I know that he carries the card in his wallet.

He said he would come back and haunt me if I didn't carry thought with his wishes.

My DH was in John Hopkins when he died, but I'm not sure if they're the ones took his body for science. The form he completed was for the Maryland Anatomy of Science. He also was a donor and they used his corneas to transplant into two other ppl. So at least Maryland with let you do both. I received a nice letter from both organizations thanking me of the donation. My DH is also on the "Tree of Life" at John Hopkins, in fact it was his parents that started the "Tree" in remembrance of their son.

 

[debbi801]

My DH was in John Hopkins when he died, but I'm not sure if they're the ones took his body for science. The form he completed was for the Maryland Anatomy of Science. He also was a donor and they used his corneas to transplant into two other ppl. So at least Maryland with let you do both. I received a nice letter from both organizations thanking me of the donation. My DH is also on the "Tree of Life" at John Hopkins, in fact it was his parents that started the "Tree" in remembrance of their son.

I think this is who my father used.