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Even though donating one’s body to science might seem like a scary prospect, more than 20,000 people in the U.S do it every year. There are many reasons why people choose this option. The main one is to help with scientific research so that their death can be meaningful and help people even if they are gone.
Another interesting reason is that many folks aren't so happy with the death industry and feel that by donating their body, their family won’t be burdened by the cost of burial or cremation. The medical college or research centre is then tasked with taking care of the cadaver and cremating it once it’s served its purpose.
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One thing I recall is that such bodies are still used in car crash tests to calibrate what crash-test dummies should indicate from trauma.
There are many branches of science that can benefit from research on cadavers. An interesting one is forensic research, which can help solve legal cases. A donation like this can guide researchers on how a body decomposes in different scenarios. This data can then be applied to open or cold cases.
A cool example of this is the research done by law enforcement in Florida. Since it is such a humid and wet place, it creates a unique condition for body decomposition. Researchers have been able to replicate these conditions on cadavers, which has helped them solve many criminal cases and get justice.
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Doubt most people want a bunch of 13 year olds squishing their brain for educational purposes, but it was neat.
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Many folks want to be organ or body donors because they know how many people they can help after they pass. The problem is that sometimes the body may not be accepted, and one reason for it is if a post-mortem has already been performed. This is because the process leaves an open wound, and embalming can't be done, which then hinders the research.
Other conditions for cadaver refusal are transmissible infections, which can be a safety risk for medical students. It’s shocking, but even patients with Alzheimer’s Disease are turned away because there is some evidence to suggest that it could be transmitted through body tissue. Therefore, researchers need to protect themselves from possible infection.
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Forensic anthropologists and archaeologists use body farms to study taphonomy, i.e. how post-depositional processes affect, in this case, a human corpse. In other words: how does a human body behave when decomposing in different environments, fx. in the woods vs. in a pond vs. in an oil drum or if the body is left above vs below ground as well as in different climates.
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But here's what was donated, at least from what I remember, and what they are typically used for:
Eyes for cornea transplants and medical research
Long bones for medical research and potential bone graphs (leg and arm bones)
Heart valves for potential heart defect and heart disease patients or medical research
Ligaments, likely for ACL/MCL repairs.
It’s an incredible feeling to know that even after death, you can help so many people by donating your body. This process can help support medical education and give students the hands-on experience that they require to become better professionals.
Learning about medical procedures through a simulation can only provide a certain amount of information, but actually working on the human body makes a big difference. Apart from research, it can also help in the development of medical devices for hips, knees, and joints. There’s so much that a whole body donation can help with, and it’s an incredible end-of-life path to consider.
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You thought you were donating to save lives… but you might be helping engineers build better seatbelts.
Many people shy away from talking about death because they feel like the subject is too macabre, but topics like full-body donation force people to jump right in. Even though it may be hard to think that the cadaver was once a living, breathing human, it’s important to recognize the beautiful gift that they’ve given to society.
Is there any use for cadavers on this list that shocked you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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1. Plastination - preserving body parts, organ systems, or entire cadavers forever through a process that converts them to plastic
2. Full body imaging for use in digital dissection software (via Anatomage or other)
3. In a group of 20 cadavers, at least 1 will have something strange about one of their organs that’s worthy of a case study, often that was not known or documented while they were alive
4. I personally like to take the brains out of the head to show off to students as young as 3rd grade.
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