Would you donate your body to science?

[sir_captain]

I'm a medical student, and we're in the midst of dissecting cadavers in gross anatomy. I think a lot about the amazing gift that my donor made to allow us to learn from her body. I respect and appreciate her immensely, though I don't know her name and didn't get to meet her until after she died. I've thought a lot about whether or not I would like to give the same opportunity to future students, and I really don't know. I'm an organ donor for sure.

But on the other hand, I don't know if I could expose myself like that. And when I'm doing something like removing a segment of her spinal cord with a hammer and chisel, it's really hard for me to imagine being as selfless as she was. I dunno. What do you all think?

The whole experience is kind of overwhelming really.

[Calliope]

1. I've already instructed my doctor to donate my body

with the added instuction that I want it written on my toe tag that if anyone mentions my cellulite they automatically flunk the class.

[sir_captain]

3. Hehe

Unfortunately, I have to tell you that it's nearly impossible to deal with the fact that you are essentially mutilating a human body without resorting to black humor. The whole process is really very respectful, though. We keep individual receptacles for each body so that it can be cremated together, and we will have a memorial service at the end of the year with the families of the donors...something I expect to be quite emotional.

[Radio_Lady]

41. I am an organ donor, too, and recently received information about

the cadaver donation program here in Oregon.

I haven't really decided whether to do this or just have my descendants cremate me and sprinkle my ashes in the water.

I think my husband and kids are upset by this whole idea -- religious stuff, mostly -- but I'm determined not to let that interfere with my requests.

Thanks for your post.

[philosophie_en_rose]

2. Probably

But probably yes. As long as there is a reasonable expectation of privacy (i.e. my parents don't have to see my spinal cord, nose, or identifiable parts on www.cadaverblog.com), I wouldn't mind at all.

But I would hate to donate my body, if the med students weren't respectful. (not that they wouldn't be, but you never know).

[sir_captain]

4. At least at my school

there is a lot of respect for the sacrifice that the donors and their families have made. As I said in a previous post, it's hard for there not to be a certain amount of black humor in the lab, but I haven't heard or seen anything that I would term disrespectful. Cameras are against the law in the lab as well, as is removal of anything, so I doubt (and fervently hope) that nothing like that ends up on the internet.

[philosophie_en_rose]

50. That's nice to know. I wouldn't mind humor.

If I were a med student, I'd find my fat ass funny too. :P

[cwydro]

5. I used to plan to do so

until that big scandal lately...what was the guy's name...famous fellow who was sold into pieces after donating...AListair someone...

[Book Lover]

6. Alistair Cooke

You most likely know him as the gentleman who introduced "Masterpiece Theater" all those years.

[cwydro]

11. oh yes

sorry for my senior moment...my parents always watched that and so did I. I just thought that was horrendous...and it totally changed my mind on the whole thing.

[sir_captain]

7. Yeah, that was pretty outrageous

the history of human dissection is pathetically sordid

[cwydro]

14. well the dissection

I could live with (lol, so to speak), but the whole black market thing and the putrid parts implanted into unsuspecting patients....oh no....not me.

[sir_captain]

16. I really hope this latest business

helps avoid more of it in the future. In this case, I think it was really because of one unscrupulous mortuary, and I guess there's no way to completely regulate human nature, sadly.

[cwydro]

22. Very true

your last statement...

[skygazer]

17. I read a facinating book about that just recently

I wish I could remember the name - the central story revolved around the murder of an Italian boy in 19th century England but it gave a history of grave robbing because it was historically quite difficult for schools to get cadavers to learn from. Some people resorted to murder to supply a body for payment.

Incredibly interesting story.

And to answer the question, I would consider it. I have no religious beliefs about my body after death - I figure it's going to simply rot anyway.

[sir_captain]

20. Burke and Hayes?

The most ironic part was that Burke was dissected publically as retribution for his crimes.

[skygazer]

28. Them's the guys

Strange story but really facinating. Those were interesting times.

[elocs]

8. I would have no trouble doing that.

Those who choose to have their body donated to science should be sure to have all of their i-s dotted and their t-s crossed. My grandfather wanted his body donated, but unfortunately that could not be done without the signatures of all of his daughters and that could not be done. When I had Anatomy and Physiology we had to study cadavers and there was no way around it that while you were doing it that you had to maintain a sense of dispassion because to think too much of them as being humans with live, love, dreams, and families would be too much.

[sir_captain]

19. Quite true

our school has a policy of returning the bodies to the families if they want, even though the donor had made the decision before he or she died.

I think one of the many lessons we are learning is the need for a certain level of professional distance.

[Fleshdancer]

9. I'll have to think about it a little more

I have always wanted to donate any organs to those who could use them but I never thought about donating the rest to science. I know that rotting in a box underground doesn't sound like something I want so I guess if I can't afford to have my ashes shot up into space (I want to be a star!) then donating it to science sounds reasonable.

[Lars39]

10. It's been a couple of years ago, but there was an article

describing how some of the bodies donated to science actually wind up in the hands of the military, where the cadavers are used to test ammunitions, etc. :(

[MrCoffee]

12. i'd donate it to science fiction.

[Radio_Lady]

42. Don't laugh. My husband tells me he wants his head frozen.

Seriously. The disturbing part of it is -- I can't get him to tell me anything else.
He's definitely read too much science fiction.

We have a burial plot with three open graves and the fourth containing the remains of his first wife, who died in 1971. There's no way we're going to use that plot again, because we live a continent away now.

So, what to do?

I guess I'll do what Scarlett O'Hara said. "I'll think about it tomorrow."

[YankeyMCC]

13. Well my instructions go something like this

"Whatever is left that is useful to the living donate it to them. The rest donate to science and save some bit to burn and spread a few ashes on Mt Liberty in Franconia notch."

[Radio_Lady]

43. Franconia Notch! I have pictures in the Refrigerator, with my ex-husband.

That was on our wedding trip from New York City to Quebec, Canada, in 1963. Regrettably, that fellow is dying of lung cancer because he smoked for decades.

Thanks for the memories, YankeyMCC! My "current" husband of 34 years was born in Boston and we roamed the East Coast from Florida to Maine for more than 50 years -- but we followed a daughter out to Portland, Oregon and we're loving it!

[YankeyMCC]

47. You're welcome of course and that's a great pic! n/t

[trof]

15. No, but I would donate it to a brothel.

At least for right now.
;-)

[Jamastiene]

18. Yes. *

* If and only if my body is "harvested" after I die. My aunt used to be an organ donor, or should I say she was always listed as one? One day, she saw a documentary or some news show that said they wait until the person's heart stops, then use a machine to bring them back to life before they harvest the organs. I do not want to be alive while they start harvesting my organs. Nada.

I have been thinking about creamation a lot for a long time, but if I did decide to donate by body to science (*), I would prefer that my body rot at the Body Farm in Tennessee for forensic scientists to do research work on their craft. I have always wanted to study in that field, but my stomach is too weak to do so. I wouldn't mind helping any research they do to help police and criminal investigators arrest the person who committed a crime. That would be awesome.

Here is a link to Wikipedia's info on the Body Farm. There is also a CNN news link below about how it all got started. It's cool reading.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_Farm
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/HEALTH/10/31/body.farm/

[sir_captain]

21. Unfortunately, some organs need to be in a living person

or at least alive in the physical sense (ie, braindead) to be viable for transplantion. It is certainly not the world's most pleasant thought.

The Body Farm sounds like an interesting place.

[Ariana Celeste]

23. Hell, yeah I would.

That's precisely what I plan to have done with my body. I don't want my family to go into debt trying to "honour" my passing, nor do I want to rot in a casket or sit in a jar. I'd much rather my body be put to use.

[VelmaD]

24. I plan on it

I have never broken a bone or had any organs removed or surgeries or anything. At this point I would have a pristine corpse and I hope to keep it that way. :)

[sir_captain]

25. Heh....good for you

though to be completely truthful, some of the more interesting cadavers are those with pacemakers and removed gall bladders and things like that. It's good for us to see both idealized bodies and not so idealized one if you know what I mean.

[Dem2theMax]

26. Would I? I'm going to. Period.

What the hell am I going to need my body for?
I look at it as the one last way I can help my fellow human beings. Maybe they'll learn something from my crazy brain. Or my whacked out immune system. Who knows? I won't be here so I won't care.
Have at it. But watch the bottoms of my feet. I'm ticklish. ;)

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

27. I'm already an organ donor and I wouldn't have any problem donating

my body to science. Once you're dead, you're dead. I don't understand how people get so worked up over what happens with their body. It's just a shell of rotting flesh at that point.

[RevolutionaryActs]

29. Why not? I want to be cremated anyway.

:shrug:

[Nicole]

30. I have already

I've donated my body to The University of Oklahoma's Willed Body Program. They will perform the cremation when they are done with me and then return the cremains to my survivors.

[sir_captain]

31. Good for you

It will be very much appreciated

[Nicole]

36. Thanks

I feel like it's the least I can do. I've had surgery and other medical treatments from the University Hospital, free of charge when I was younger & without insurance. My only cost was enduring the roomful of students who accompanied my surgeon on rounds. :)

[sir_captain]

37. Hehe

I always feel kind of bad for the patients with all the students ogling them. On the flip side, teaching hospitals usually have by far the best care, so there is that, at least. :-)

[Nicole]

38. I didn't really mind

I knew it was for a good cause. Plus beggars can't be choosers applies to that. :rofl:

You are right about the level of care, I received excellent care at the University Hospital. In fact I still prefer going there even though I now have insurance. I'm sure they enjoy my insurance helping to pay the bills as well.

[sir_captain]

39. No doubt

even excepting the ridiculousness propagated by the insurance companies, health care is a really expensive business.

All my own docs are academic based--tend to be the most progressive too ;-)

[Nikia]

32. No

Maybe that makes me selfish, but I'll let other people be cut up naked by strangers.

[lavenderdiva]

33. both of my parents donated their bodies to science...

My father passed away first: while my Mother was still alive, after his death, she would drive by the medical school where his body was being used, and shout out to him that she hoped a 'young thing with big boobs' was working on him. When my mother passed away, her desire and wish was that her body be donated to science, as my father's had been. However, I didn't find her body until several days after her death, and it was unacceptable to the donation board. So I had her cremated, and her cremains held until they were finished with my father's body. His body was also cremated, and both of their cremains were buried together, in a special cemetary for those who donate their bodies to science.

[Arugula Latte]

59. Oh my gawd, your mom sounds like a hoot!

"young thing with big boobs" ... :rofl:

[lavenderdiva]

71. oh, this is just a *tiny* little story about her...

I have a 'brazillion' very funny stories about her. She was a hoot! She kept a transsylvanian casket in her den; black, almost 8 feet long. She would drag it out to the front yard once a year, to aggravate the neighbors, and decorate it with mardi gras beads. But the rest of the year, it sat in the den. It always made for 'extra seating'.

Once, 2 young mormons kept coming to her front door, trying to proselytize. She was kind-hearted, and had 11 dogs that she 'adopted' from here and there. When they came to the door, it got all the dogs in an uproar, and that got her aggravated. These 2 young men just kept coming back, day after day. So, to put an end to it, she finally decided to answer the door. They asked her if they could come inside, and share their faith with her. She said sure, but they would have to listen to her share her faith, once they were done. They agreed. They spent some time, in the den, sitting on the casket, sharing their faith. Once they were finished, she said it was her turn. 'OK', she said, 'I'm a nudist, and we all have to take off our clothes', then she started disrobing. Those 2 young guys were scared out of their wits by then, ran out of the house, and never came back. I guess that's one way to scare them off...

[Arugula Latte]

84. Bwa ha ha!

I hear these stories of how people get rid of the religious freaks, but I'd never have the guts to do it.

My husband's friend once answered the door to religion-spreaders (I think they'd been by his way before). He was stark nekkid and eating a chicken leg. He told them that he was just eatin' him some "Jesus meat," and he invited them in to eat Jesus meat with him. Needless to say, they took off.

:rofl:

[ghostsofgiants]

34. I'd be dead, so I really wouldn't give a shit.

[Pool Hall Ace]

35. My husband and I just contacted Duke Univ about doing that.

My in-laws are doing it, too.

[XemaSab]

40. Scientific detachment is odd

We've got a thrasher at the wildlife care center that's doing poorly, and my first thought when I saw him is that it's hard to get good thrasher carcasses these days, and some lab tech at the museum is going to LOVE him. :P

[Radio_Lady]

44. XemaSab, I don't know what a thrasher is... a bird like this?

[XemaSab]

57. Yup

They're really cool, and it would be good if this guy made it, but if he doesn't, that's okay too.

[China_cat]

45. You won't be using it at the time, will you?

Edited to add, a good book on the subject is Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Well worth reading.

[Skittles]

46. I'm thinking about it

I'd like to tattoo my name on me first so you guys know my name LOL

[sir_captain]

56. Hehe

I wonder if the schools would accept you under that situation--they seem pretty adamant about keeping identifying information private. We get the age of the person when they died, what they died from (that's need to know, really) and what their occupation was.

My donor didn't have any tatoos, but the guys working at the table next to me have a construction worker who is covered in them. Mine still has nail polish on, though, which is kind of creepy.

[Skittles]

68. ooh, that is creepy

hey I understand gallows humor, you would not be human if you did not find release in a little bit of fun morbidity but I do appreciate that you realize how phenomenal it is for a person to donate their body for science. Me, I am a regular platelet donor and would-be organ donor; I like the idea of still being able to help mankind even when I no longer exist - that's just too cool. :)

[sir_captain]

78. It's pretty overwhelming, really

We had a small-group session after the first lab just to talk about how we felt about the whole thing and I don't think I realized quite how freaked out I was about the whole thing. There were more than a few students who started to cry.

At some schools, the faces are covered until you get to head/neck dissection, but ours aren't. I'm not sure if that makes it harder or easier. One comes to understand where the phrase "death mask" came from, cause all of the donors have looks of absolute horror on their faces. Of course, this is from the skin stretching and contorting and so on, and isn't at all what they probably looked like when they died, but it's kind of hard seeing that staring back up at you while you've got probes and scalpels sticking into their insides.

But yeah--it's one of the most amazing gifts that anyone could make for my education and I'm not going to forget it.

[billyskank]

48. What's the big deal? The body is nothing.

After you're dead it's just a lump of no use to anybody, except medical students apparently.

[Heidi]

51. Agree.

:thumbsup:

[Kutjara]

49. I'm torn.

While donating one's organs and body is the responsible, civic-minded thing to do, it is rather at odds with how I've always wanted my remains to be disposed. Ever since I was a wee boy, I've wanted to be cremated and then have my ashes dumped over the head of someone I hate.

Hmmm, maybe they can still do that once the medical students have finished frolicking among my giblets.

[buddhamama]

52. yes,

i would. i already have plans to be burned however, and scattered somewhere special to me.

[Ramsey]

53. This is going to sound selfish

But in med school I took gross anatomy and dissected a body, and I don't think I want to have that done to my body.

[sir_captain]

54. Yeah, I hear you

that's definitely part of why I'm torn on the matter. The whole process isn't that...pleasant. I dunno. I've thought a lot about it lately.

[bertha katzenengel]

55. Yes, if I didn't want Mrs. V & my family to leave my ashes in the Pacific.

I'd be afraid that if I sent my body to a university, my family would never get my ashes back.

But the students could learn a lot from me. I had open-heart surgery as an infant in 1963.

[sir_captain]

80. At least at my school

ashes are returned to every family that requests it. The rest are placed in individual urns and interred in a memorial crypt that the school has at a cemetery, both as a sign of respect, and also so that if a family decides later they would like the remains, that can still be done.

Wow--open-heart surgery in 1963. That's pretty amazing--thank goodness it turned out well!

I had a hernia operation as an infant and I know (in retrospect, obviously) how crazy that made my parents--I can't begin to imagine what that must have been like for your family.

[Arugula Latte]

58. I want to -- I'd rather have it go to something useful.

I have a document saying that they should use my body for whatever makes it the most useful -- if they can use my organs to help someone who is living -- wonderful! If not, then at least it can be used for some sort of research.

If the med students stand around making cracks about my cracks or whatever, well, I'll be dead, what the hell do I care?

[Shell Beau]

60. My organs, yes! I am an organ donor.

But I feel my family will want a burial for me and I want to be able to ease the pain and grief they will feel if I can. Giving your body to science is a wonderful thing to do, but I just don't feel like I could on account of my family. For some reason, burials, cremations, whatever you choose, help with closure. At least for me they do.

[sir_captain]

67. Yeah, I think that's usually the biggest obstacle

at our school, we maintain individual receptacles for tissues from each donor so that they can be cremated and have the remains returned to the families, but lots of families still don't want that, and I certainly don't blame them.

[bettyellen]

61. some donated bodies end up rotting outdoors as part of forensic research

and some for plastic surgery or plane crash demos. and the rotting outdoors exposed like that is just too much.
read that in stiff or stiffed- great book. but it gave me second thoughts. organ donor yes, the whole bod. i doubt it.

[philosophie_en_rose]

62. No Body Farm for me either.

I plan to be very thorough about researching the program I donate my body to. They basically get to borrow it for a while, then it goes to cremation.

But you never know what happens, once you're dead - I guess. As I recall from criminal law, there was a case in Florida or Louisiana where a mortician gave wood ashes to family members. He just dumped the bodies any old place on his property - many in shallow graves and others out in the open.

[hippywife]

63. Already specified that

in my living will. All usable organs are to be harvested for individual donation and the rest goes to science. I just have to do some research and decide where it should go and for what purpose. No way I want my body used in research for the military.

[terrya]

64. Yes, I would.

The thought hadn't occurred to me, actually. I always wanted to be cremated.

But if there is any chance that it could do even a tiny amount of good, sure I could donate my body to science. Better that than have it taking up space in a grave somewhere.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

65. I plan on dieing doing something either fun or stupid, like skydiving

doing donuts in a car on an icy bridge, or doing a wheelie in a motorcycle. In said events, I don't think my body will be in much of a condition to be helpful

[Lowell]

66. As far as I'm concerned

when I'm gone its just so much dead meat. I don't care what is done to it. Science can have it or I can be ground up for dog food as far as I'm concerned.

[Lars39]

69. A quote for you:

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming, "WOO HOO what a ride!".

:D

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

70. If I did, I couldn't be stuffed and mounted....

Actually, I'm an organ donor, and I don't much care what they do with the rest of me. I won't be using it.

[Redstone]

72. Science would take one look at mine, and throw it back.

Though it might be useful for a course titled "If I'd known I would live this long, I might have taken better care of myself."

Redstone

[sir_captain]

73. Heh...well, one of the important lessons

in dissection is that nobody's body looks remotely like the idealized pictures in the textbooks. We've got guys with huge tumors on their necks, and missing organs, and massive amounts of fat, and pretty much everything you could imagine.

Strangely enough, it still doesn't make me feel a whole lot like drinking less or eating more healthily. :shrug:

[Generic Brad]

74. Why would science want my body?

If I'm in demand, science must be pretty hard up.

[sir_captain]

75. It depends on the state

and the rules regarding how bodies are obtained. Some states, like PA, have plenty. Others have real shortages, partially because many fewer bodies from prisoners and john does are being used.

[Generic Brad]

77. I'm in a state of confusion

Does that help?

[sir_captain]

79. Hehe

You can be the subject for a behavior sciences course, then. ;-)

[Neoma]

76. I'd donate my organs to help other people.

But that's pretty much it.

[LiberalHeart]

81. I did the paperwork years ago to donate my body to a medical school...

My grandmother and father both donated their bodies; my mother will, too, when the time comes. But our family is not caught up in ritual. We don't even do funerals.

I don't care what students do to me when I'm dead. I just hope the donation helps with what they've set out to learn.

There was a service at the medical school that my mother attended when my dad died. The students stood up and told a room full of the loved ones of donors what the donation meant to them. That was very moving and meaningful to my mother. But for me it would have been dwelling in public on something that I addressed when alone where I was more comfortable, so I didn't attend.

My mother didn't cry when my father died. She didn't let go until the letter arrived from the medical school asking if she wanted the ashes, or if they should go into the burial spot the school maintains. She said that's when the death became real to her and the floodgates opened.

[LaurenG]

82. Both of my grandparents did (moms parents)

and my mom has arranged for the University of New Mexico to come pick her up once she's done here.

I think it's an awesome thing to do.

[Deja Q]

83. I've heard of people playing 'Doctor', so who can I call 'Scientist'?

:rofl: