Donating Body to Science

[MexicanTravels]

Has anyone thought about this? I first heard about Aeternitas from an MIT article about mind-uploading. If you register with them and they accept your body, you could benefit science and also get a no-cost cremation.

Does anybody know of alternatives or whether this is a good option or not? They currently only serve people who die in Washington or Oregon.

Aeternitas website:

https://aeternitas.com/

The original mind-uploading article in the MIT Technology Review:

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/...-uploading-service-that-is-100-percent-fatal/

 

[15dec]

I've considered it before, it's definitely something I'm interested in, though I'd most likely have to find somewhere in England. I presume there's also the possibility of your family refusing to donate your body after your death though which is a shame

 

[Ch92921]

Only my brain

 

[Threads]

I have considered this. I am actually an organ donor. If I die, I want my body parts, if viable to go to those who may need them. If my body could be used to further train medical doctors or advance science, I'm all about that as well.

But what I am considering more is donating my body to the forum.

 

[TAW122]

I haven't since I've mostly just wanted to die. However, given my method of ctb'ing, there is little chance that my body and it's organs will be good enough for others to use. I think my corpse would already be long decayed (depending on how quickly I'm discovered after death) before it is of any use.

 

[MexicanTravels]

I researched a bit more and found two other organizations in the United States that will take whole body donations and pay for transportation, a death certificate, and cremation:

MedCure
http://medcure.org/

and Science Care
https://www.sciencecare.com/

Also, universities will accept whole body donations as well but usually don't provide transportation.

This is honestly a good way to reduce the burden of cost on family members if your deceased body is accepted as cremations can cost around $1000. And who knows what benefits you may provide humanity through science research along the way!

 

[TiredHorse]

Beware donating to other than a university!

I recently read an article revealing that some people who donate their body to science, without researching who they are donating it through, are actually donating it to a for-profit corporation. That corporation then parts out the body (sorry to be greusome) and sells it off to whatever universities need a torso, a head, a lung, whatever. Chop-shops for humans. And universities and medical schools end up getting the short end of the stick: they used to have people donate their bodies directly to the universities, but now they can't afford to purchase as many cadavers as they need from these places.

So these corporations are turning your donated body into a profit at the expense of the universities most people who donate their bodies want to help.

Better to donate directly to a university.

ETA: Here's an article on just how messed up the cadaver industry can be. It isn't the one I read before, that cites the difficulties universities are having, but it is a good cautionary tale nonetheless: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-bodies-brokers/

ETA2: I think this is the one I read originally: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-bodies-science/

"Medical school officials in Pennsylvania and Florida report that competition from Science Care and other brokers has reduced the number of bodies donated to schools to train students. Science Care markets itself more aggressively than medical schools, they say, and offers donors more favorable terms, such as picking up the body for free.

"We have lost many donations because of them, and we've not been able to meet the needs of our schools," said Clariza Murray of Humanity Gifts Registry, a state agency in Pennsylvania that coordinates the donation process. "We're seeing six students per donor in a first-year anatomy lab, when it should be three or four students per donor.""

 

[MexicanTravels]

Better to donate directly to a university.

This is good information. If you have the means to donate directly to a university, do that. There are a few cons though. Universities accept less types of bodies (e.g. only standard BMI bodies, usually no suicides, etc.) and won't pay for transportation of the body to the university, which can be pricey if you die far away from your selected university. While I'm not a fan of people profiting off of other people's donations, organizations like Science Care do help standardize the market while relieving the most amount of donors of any costs.

 

[Angst Filled Fuck Up]

To be honest I am quite a marvel insofar as how much junk food and nicotine I've consumed while outliving someone like Bruce Lee, for instance. That has to be worth studying. Still, I think I'd ultimately prefer my unceremonious cremation followed by a quick disposal of the ashes.

 

[Jodes]

Pharmaceuticals would just recycle me

 

[MexicanTravels]

Just think about it. Research on your brain could lead to perfecting cryogenic techniques that would enable mind-uploading in the future! Of course, we could all be brains in vats already. Who's to know?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_in_a_vat