The Significance of Cadaver Donation: Advancing Medical Science & Education

Almost anyone can choose to have her body donated to science upon death. Benefits include advances in research, education and a feeling of doing something useful for the future.

Education

• Bodies play an important role in medical and scientific education. Without bodies, surgeons cannot learn to cut accurately. Students of law enforcement and medicine cannot learn anatomy.

Research

• Research done on bodies can help make improvements in treatment and help scientists to understand disease, thus developing better cures.

Organs

• A body can yield many parts that can help others to see, live and heal. A tragic death can be turned into something that honors the deceased. Organs can also be preserved to teach students.

Cost

• Donating a body to science is the least expensive way to dispose of a dead body. Generally, the collecting organization pays for collection; only disposal and return of remains is paid by the family.

Process

• The American Association of Tissue Banks can provide a list of suitable organizations for cadaver donation. The donor or the next of kin may provide consent.

Interesting Fact

• In the late 19th century medical science was developing so fast that there were not enough bodies to study. Grave-robbing became a gruesome, black-market way to find bodies for study.