Dead Body to Medical Research.

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lynchtp

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I've been looking into selling my body to medical research when I pop my clogs.
Oasis. gov. ie helps a little by telling of 5 medical research schools that do this and stating each school has its own procedures for entering.

However the 5 schoold mention nothing about it on there sites.

Has anyone any idea's on this.
Or thoughts on the whole issue.
 
I've heard of donating but not selling one's (dead) body for medical research. I always assumed that you simply put it in your will and informed next of kin so that in the event of sudden (e.g. accidental) death the relevant medical staff would be made aware of the wish and act accordingly.
 
Why not also think about a donor card ?

As for donating your body to med sci, Ask what will happen when the med students have finished with you.

It may be that you will be handed back to your next of kin as a box of bones a year or two after you have departed this world. This can be the source of some distress to them ( if not to you )
 
I tried this about 20 years ago. I'd heard the Royal College of Surgeons paid £5. However, they told me on the phone, that they didn't need any bodies at the time and refused to listen to my protestations that I had no intention of dying any time soon. (I'm still here.....) So no £5, and my student days proceeded in the usual penury.
 
My father (who died 14 years ago) arranged with The Royal College of Surgeons for them to have his cadaver for dissection/research purposes and this was done.

The actual process then involved his remains being taken quietly to the medical school in advance of the funeral. The funeral comprised an empty coffin. About 18 months later the RCS contacted the family to return the cadaver which they had finished with. The immediate family then attended an interrment ceremony (same cemetary/grave). The RCS paid the undertaker's expenses for the interrment. The medical school also hold an annual Rememberance Ceremony for the families of donors.
 
Like Marie I've had a relative who donated their body for medical research- we had the funeral mass with the body in the coffin which was then removed by the undertakers and taken away, as I remember it was two years before the body was released indicating variances depending on the Institution (NUIG in my experience). Also once the remains are released they can be buried in a family plot or with other remains that have been studied- On a personal note it's hard whenever someone close to you dies and revisiting the original grieving -as I found having a Burial two years after a death is difficualt; but I guess knowing that a loved ones final wish is being carried is also a comforting thought.
 
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