Question about cadavors donated to scientific research

Hello everyone!


I have a question about dead bodies that are donated to scientific research.....

What happens to the bodies when the scientists are done with them? Do they get thrown away? sent back to the families? Ground up into little pieces and put in our meat? (jk on that last one) But seriously, where DO they go? no real reason why im asking. Just curious is all.


Kind Regards,
Digital Grl

I imagine it depends on what they are used for. If a particular part has no more use I imagine it's incinerated as medical waste.

yea true. Still what happens if they have alot left?

Also what kinds of experiements do they do on a dead body?

well one expriement i recall is shooting a corpse with a gun to disprove the "magic bullet" theory the warren commission fabricated.

Hi,
My husband's Uncle body was donated for research and when they were done with it they returned the body to the family already cremated which were his wishes...I don't know who paid for the cremation, his Aunt or the research hospital. I imagine if they didn't want cremation, the body would just be sent back. One of the reasons he wanted his body donated was because he figured it wouldn't matter what they did to it because soon it would be ashes anyway, studied or not. They use bodies routinely in teaching hospitals and do just normal dissecting,etc. most of the time.

Here are an excerpt from a review at Medscape of the book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers:

Moving on to a medical school's memorial service for anatomical cadavers, she describes medical students' almost reverent attitude toward the bodies they dissected to learn anatomy and for the people who donated them. This is where Roach's nonmedical observer begins to have difficulty relating. Although her descriptions are accurate and even poignant, they lack insight into what students gain from the dissection experience, an experience that separates physicians in so many ways from the lay public.

www.medscape.com...

A quote from a medical school publication:

At Wright State University in Dayton Ohio, their Anatomical Gift Program is more than just a slice and dice affair. Every year the school gets about 200 bodies. After bodies have been dissected in labs, the school honors donors and their loved ones for their generosity.

"We do have a memorial service every year in October for the family and friends of the donors who have died and have been in the program. At that time the remains of some people are interred at a cemetery here on the campus. Some families want remains back, but most have them interred," says Mark Willis, the school of medicine's director of media relations. He continues, "It's quite a moving event."

The school has been doing the service for more than 20 years and feels such memorials help loved ones say goodbye. Willis says, "The memorial service is partly secular and partly religious. It is a final rite and a final closure on the death and the grieving process." Such memorials not only provide closure for the families, but an opportunity for the university and students to express thanks.

There are more than 5,000 people registered for Wright State University's Anatomical Gift Program. If they do become donors, their gift will also be commemorated on an etched stone marker in the cemetery.

www.colleges.com...

Check here and here for more information.

[edit on 05/4/26 by GradyPhilpott]

Some cadavers also go to a place called the body farm in TN. The bodies are throw about the property and the scientists study decomposition rates at different times. It helps criminologists determine causes of death and more accurately times of death. It's doubtful of course that the bodies are returned to the families at that point but I am sure they have something for the families donating the body.

For the most part, they are cremated and then returned to the family. If the family signs off that they do not want the cremated remains returned to them, the donation service will usually have a large service once a year, to memorialize the donors.

A donor has to will themselves to a certain donation service, at which point they can be "rented" out, to gross anatomy classes, anatomy departments, mortuary schools, medical schools, etc. The Donor has final say, prior to death, as to where they go- so a body will not just end up at the body farm, or any other service, it has to be willed there by the donor. The donor also has the final say when it comes down to what the body can be used for- i.e., not everyone is going to want to be dissected in an anatomy class, or have limbs removed for study- and that is all specified while setting up the donation.

Either they go into vats of ET pudding in Dulce, or into Wendy's Chili...


Seriously though, see Bobbo's explanation, though I'd imagine the wishes are violated more often than not...

You'd be surprised at how little it actually happens, Gazrok. Family's can sue big time if they find out it was used in a way against the deceased wishes, and that alone is enough to scare most donation services out of doing anything not agreed upon ahead of time.

It happens, I'm sure, but not often. And I'd bet that a lot of times, it's a paperwork error, or some other mix-up like that, it's not intentional.

Wow thanks for all your replies guys. I got my question answered quick

Kind Regards,
Digital Grl

[edit on 10/01/2004 by DigitalGrl]

Just a quick addition to all the above, DigitalGrl, if you are interested there is a great book about cadaver research and what happens when bodies are donated etc. It is called 'Stiff' and is by a pretty well known journalist called Mary Roach. It is not as sick as you would imagine, it's well written, informative, funny, tasteful and more than a little moving at times...

Check it out...

at Amazon

One of the many uses of corpses and science Depends on the family and the will of the person. If it was a criminal or a homeless person with no family to contact then the bodies are incinerated as medical waste. I recommend the following book "Body Farm"

I actually had the opportunity to visit the FSU cadaver lab - They had nine bodies being dissected by groups of 5....They were doing the nerves of the forearm while we were there and I got to pick a few lovely strands of fascia away from the veins and muscle....

A few people got sick but I got a real kick out of it

Regarding the body farm at University of Tennessee, that is quite an incredible place....I’m considering applying to their Masters program there in Forensic Anthropology, which is the body farm…

They put bodies in the trunks of cars, let dogs rip them to pieces, bury them at different depths, expose them to all these various conditions....and as ruthless as it sounds, the data they get is worth its weight in gold, as it helps us to understand what's happened at a crime scene, to determine time of death and when the various rigors set in....Very fascinating stuff.....

[edit on 4/27/2005 by EnronOutrunHomerun]

Originally posted by SunChaser
Just a quick addition to all the above, DigitalGrl, if you are interested there is a great book about cadaver research and what happens when bodies are donated etc. It is called 'Stiff' and is by a pretty well known journalist called Mary Roach.

I totally forgot about "Stiff"!!

It is an excellent book, and it's written, for the most part, from a layperson's point of view. No technical jargon, just a straight up good read.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
Here are an excerpt from a review at Medscape of the book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers:

It makes me feel good that my posts are so carefully read.

It makes me feel good that my posts are so carefully read.

GradyPhilpott, sorry! That will teach me for skipping through the posts!
I shall seek out every other post you have written and ensure the mistake never happens again!

...by the look of things...that may take a while...

Originally posted by deadlynightshade
One of the many uses of corpses and science Depends on the family and the will of the person. If it was a criminal or a homeless person with no family to contact then the bodies are incinerated as medical waste. I recommend the following book "Body Farm"

I saw that you posted on this thread, and had a feeling that you'd post about a body farm, miss forensics addict!

To everyone else, having discussed body farms quite extensively with deadlynightshade, I've come to realize that they are very interesting and highly beneficial to the world of forensic science. The bodies on farms like this may very well help detectives solve crimes far more efficiently.

Between this use and the use in medical school, we've probably accounted for a vast majority of bodies donated to science.

The rest...... well, we all know, Soilent Green is people!

Bodies used in body farms usualy stay in the farms untill nothing but bones is left from them, then they get cremated.

Body farms help scientists and very much "criminalists" to determine how body's decompose. Underground, in concrete, above ground, at low temps, at high temps, dressed, naked, in vehicules, in caskets, near trees, in an open field and so on and on.

This is very good to determine a timeline on a death and to know what timeframe you have to look at when it comes to who was where and would have had the motives at that time.

The majority of these bodies are used for medical school training. Very rarely are bodies used for anything other than training.

Once they are used (basically cut to pieces so bad you have no idea what's where), they are burned and buried and a memorial is put out for the families to visit.

Hope that helps!