Tissue, Organ and Body Donations

Within the past twenty years, medical science has advanced to a point where the ability to donate parts of one's body after death has become almost commonplace. Donating skin tissue and bodily organs after death, to improve the quality of life of others, is a selfless and generous act. For example, people who are hooked up to dialysis machines to receive kidney donations, for the blind to receive new corneas and for those struggling to breathe to receive new lungs, the gift of organ donation is priceless. Many countries have programs that make sure body parts are retrieved and used in the most efficient manner possible.

If you wish to donate skin tissue (e.g. for burns victims) and/or body organs after your death, it is important to make your wishes known to your family and the funeral director as early as possible. It is commonplace for those who wish to be donors on the event of their death to carry donor cards or to have some form of information stating their wish attached to their drivers license. It is vital that the deceased's family is informed of the desire to donate body organs long before he/she dies because organ donation cannot take place without the family's permission.

If the deceased had not informed his/her family before death, then permission must be sought from members of the family in the following order of priority: spouse, adult child(ren), parent, adult sibling or guardian. Often the family of the deceased, already in shock and mourning, may find the revelation of their loved one's desire to donate upsetting and a decision difficult to make.

Donations of the entire body to medical science can help make a contribution to the fight against illnesses, perhaps even the illness that the deceased suffered from. Donations of an entire body are generally only accepted if prearranged. An instrument of anatomical gift, or a Certificate for Bequeathing Body must be completed by the donor, signed and witnessed during the prearranging process. However, the donor may reverse the decision at any time.

If the body is accepted by the medical school (and schools have the right to refuse a body) it will go directly to the school, although the next-of-kin may be requested to pay transportation costs.

The aforementioned right to refuse the donation of a body may (but not always) may be utilized if the body has been autopsied or mutilated if the death was violent (e.g. a car crash). If the body is missing a limb or an organ, then the school may refuse it on these grounds - it depends upon what purpose the body is to serve. There may be occasions where a medical institution has sufficient bodies for its research that the donation may be refused on those grounds. Alternatively, a body may be refused on grounds of age and weight; again it depends upon the purpose that the body is being used for. It is therefore advisable to have an alternative method of disposition prepared for such an eventuality.

Adapted from: "What to Do When a Loved One Dies: A Practical & Compassionate Guide to Dealing with Death on Life's Terms" by Eva Shaw