donating my body to medical science

[MaryGilbeaux]

I've gone through the process, and have a card in my purse stating this - I don't like waste, and will gladly be recycled!

My children and grandchildren are utterly appalled at this.

Still going ahead of course, but what do you all think?

My grandmother did this. There was a memorial instead of a funeral and then when her ashes were returned a year later, her children met to scatter them. It was what she wanted, so that's what we did.

My mother struggled with the fact that both her parents did this. There was a memorial service for each of them, but she never knew what ultimately happened to their remains.

My mum has asked for this. I felt quite upset but possibly because the only reason she wants this is because she has no insurance/no money to leave and doesn't want us left with a funeral bill. If her reasons were similar to yours I could probably get on board.

It is interesting to read how it's gone about from pp though. I must tell her that there's forms ECT she needs to fill out beforehand. I think she just thought it was all sorted after death.

Are you ok with your body being handled with.....humour.....by a few students? It will not be a funereal atmosphere in the anatomy room - sometimes the only way to have a bit of perspective and distance from the sad reality is to distract. They will be grateful, and they will appreciate your gift. But there will be smiles, laughter, and jokes told around you. Is that ok?

I tend to push patients who 'want to be useful' towards tissue donation.

They also often think 'medical research' means actual research when at our local medical school it means medical students learning anatomy - which is OK if you are fine with that but not if you were hoping for research.

If you want research I then suggest the brain banks who want both normal brains and those affected by neurological disease.

You are also much more likely to get accepted by the brain banks - medical schools tend to refuse over a certain weight and if anatomy is too distorted eg by surgery or cancer. I've had a few patients turned down - decision is only made once you have died so they never knew.

If you're serious about down no this, start by reading the FAQS

www.hta.gov.uk/faqs/body-donation-faqs

because you need to make proper arrangements (just expressing a wish or bunging something in your Will or a letter left with your will, is not going to be enough)

It can be very, very hard for the family left behind in terms of getting closure. My uncle did this, and my aunt (his sister), and his partner found it so difficult. We held a memorial service for him when he died, then 6 months later there was a memorial service organised by the medical school for the families of donors, then when we eventually got what was left of his body back 18 months later there was an actual funeral, so it felt like they spent 18 months grieving without moving on at all.

I think it's great to donate your body to science IF your family are on board with it, but if they aren't, you may want to rethink - it really is very hard on those left behind.

Unfortunately there are no guarantees that the facility will take your body when the time comes. That is a bummer for the family who might have to make alternative arrangements at short notice.

I think if a facility accepts your body donation, and is full up or whatever, they should accept and cremate anyway.

It is the uncertainty of things when I die that puts me off. I want to donate my poor wrecked body to them, but I would hate if they couldn't take me on the day.

I work in a mortuary and in response to the pp who heard doctors joking about the cadavers, I can honestly say that this has never been my experience. Everyone who deals with deceased patients where I work (a large hospital) treats them with respect. This includes doctors and funeral directors. We are all conscious of the fact that they are people and should be treated with the same respect that we would wish for ourselves and our loved ones. I hope that's reassuring to anyone who's worried about that.

My parents are all signed up. I had to witness their signatures.

I am fully expecting it not to happen though.

I know this is a serious subject but I've just done a search on the web page to find my local university and found myself saying out loud, 'oh, I can go to Cambridge, that'll be nice". Ffs, it's like I'm booking a day trip.

We have had family members in our family do this and it's not been an issue at all. We still held a celebration of their lives which were all beautiful. It's your body to do as you wish with.

I want to do this and have looked into it but not signed up yet