Donating body to science. How to tell family.

tooldle

My parents have both done this. As others have said you need to find a med school / University NHS trust that will accept you. My parents have a prepaid funeral plan. Both the Undertaker and the GP are aware of their request, and their medical records contain a statement detailing the arrangement. I believe their solicitor is also involved. You do need a funeral plan in place for two reasons. The first is that the med school can only accept bodies on weekdays. Should the donor die at the weekend, then the undertaker stores the body and arranges for collection on the Monday (obviously a cost here for services of the undertaker). Should the donor die on a weekday, the undertaker will alert the medschool, who arrange collection. In the event that they do no need the body, it will be returned to the undertaker for funeral etc. In the case of my parents, the medschool does not return ashes, but does confirm that the body or body parts will be cremated after use. There is also an annual memorial service held for the families of donors.
My parents were a little nervous of explaining their wishes. I am the only child of the family to be aware of the position. Its not something that concerns me. I work in a med school, so fully aware of the needs and the procedures.
I think you just need to be clear that this is what you want. It might be hard for others to understand, but that should not detract from your wish.

Butterfliesarepretty

nixe wrote: »

we have all managed to be positive and laugh about the good times we had with him [ butterflies ]

i am glad you had many good and happy times with him.
he sounds like he was a good dad..
thank you for the link, i am under the manchester royal so will look into this i have a terminal but have lived 4 years longer than expected
so they do get things wrong thankfully.
lol i agree lets hope its not for another 40 years for you. xx

Just been told that they only accept people over 50. So I have to wait six years before I can apply again.

Careful_with_that_Axe

Butterfliesarepretty wrote: »

Just been told that they only accept people over 50. So I have to wait six years before I can apply again.

Really?! I'll have to hang on for another couple of years then :rotfl:

All this info about how to do it and what I will need to do is brilliant and may help others contemplating this too. Sounds like it is a bit of a minefield.

Errata

I didn't know there was an age limit. Seems daft when the most useful cadaver is one that's 22 years old with no health problems and no injuries other than a cracked skull. I thought medical students needed to understand what a healthy body looks like in order for them to recognise unhealth.

clairec79

My husband has decided this is what he wanted to do, it's his choice.

He has had all the forms etc, filled them in (got me to witness them) and then sent one copy back and gave one each to me and his GP

Not sure if he's told his mother yet

His attitude was when he's dead then his body is no use to him, and people may as well learn from him which in the long term may make a big difference

clairec79

Butterfliesarepretty wrote: »

Just been told that they only accept people over 50. So I have to wait six years before I can apply again.

not sure if this depends from place to play - DH signed for Cardiff university at 36

Violetta_2

There is a lot of info online at the HTA including info for your local teaching hospital. Hopefully they will help with your research. (And hopefully you won't helping them for a long long time).

brook2jack

As someone who spent a couple of years learning anatomy from people who very kindly donated their bodies I would like to say thank you to the very generous people who donated their bodies.

There is no substitute for learning the complexities of that wonderful machine the human body and I wouldn't want anyone operating on me who hadn't had the opportunity of learning hands on anatomy.

Unfortunately there has been a drastic fall in people donating their bodies and this has a consequence on the teaching of the next generations as well as research.

My family all know that I want any bits of me that are useful to be used. We talk about it openly and often and always have done. Unfortunately death is still a taboo subject and many people have strong feelings about eh the heart or eyes or brain.

There was a day ago a documentary about what happens to donated bodies in the medical school in Otago New Zealand on BBC4 it is called donated to science and can be viewed for the next five days on iplayer. . It has interviews from people who chose to donate and the trainee doctors etc who learned from them. It is a very good programme and articulates the need perfectly. One gentleman said he had been selfish all his life and didn't want to be remembered that way and this was a gift he could make unselfishly. Perhaps it may give you some ideas as to how to approach the subject.

nixe

Just been told that they only accept people over 50. So I have to wait six years before I can apply again. [ butterflies ]

same age did not get time today to phone them but do you think the age limit only applies to people who are healthy?
read on this thread about 36 year old donator wonder if different areas have different rules...
thank you brook2jack will find this tomorrow.

troubleinparadise

My mum was passionate about medical research having been a nurse, and then diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease 10 years ago.

She signed up to donate her brain and spinal cord to the PD Research Tissue Bank, and I witnessed her application.

Sadly 6 months ago Mum died. When I knew we were in her final days I contacted the Tissue Bank, who were then ready to send out their Retrieval Team. Her body was taken from the Care Home to the nearby hospital where the Retrieval Team collected the tissues, and was then returned to the funeral directors. They promise that the retrieval is done sensitively and respectfully. I did see my mum at the funeral home - and she looked absolutely fine - there was no sign that anything had happened, which was reassuring to me.

About a year after donation a report is sent to her GP giving information of their findings. It will confirm the PD diagnosis, and any further findings - my mum also had a diagnosis of Lewy Body Dementia (often associated with Parkinson's) - which again can only be confirmed via investigation post mortem. I can then receive this information from the GP if I wish.

I was very happy to concur with my mum's wishes; she was dealt with sensitively and respectfully; and hopefully her generous donation will contribute towards better understanding of a very challenging condition for the future.

:A RIP MUM :A