However, it is wise to also choose a "Plan B" naming a mortuary and alternate method of disposition because sometimes the medical schools turn bodies away.

Reasons why some bodies have not been accepted when the time comes:

1. Accident or suicide causes too much damage to the body

2. All body parts not present (in other words, you can't donate organs/parts as well as the body) However, UCSF says amputation does not preclude acceptance.

3. Extreme obesity

4. Infectious diseases (such as Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease, hepatitis, HIV, tuberculosis)

5. An autopsy has been performed (Stanford won't, UCSF will if there is nothing else to preclude acceptance)

6. The body has been embalmed elsewhere

7. The person died during major surgery

8. Jaundice, bed sores

9. A lot of fluid in the extremities, such as might occur in kidney failure

10. Severe contractions--the body needs to be straight

11. Advanced decomposition

12. The school has enough bodies at the time

You will note that there is no upper age limit on donating bodies.
With Stanford Medical School Anatomy Department, there is no cost to the deceased's family except the cost of death certificates and possibly, an obituary in a daily newspaper, if the person died within 75 miles. UC San Francisco expects the family to pay the cost of transportation (several hundred dollars) to a local funeral home. Stanford Medical School Anatomy Department contracts with a local funeral home to transport bodies and prepare death certificates for those within 75 miles. If death occurs beyond 75 miles, the family or estate pays the cost of transportation.

After the body is used for medical instruction or research at Stanford, it is cremated and buried at Alta Mesa Cemetery, Palo Alto, without a marker, unless the family wishes the ashes returned to them. Stanford medical students have an annual memorial service to honor the people who donated their bodies to further their medical education.

At UCSF, after studies are completed, generally a period of one to three years, the remains are cremated and either scattered at sea or scattered in a cemetery, depending on where the body has been assigned for study. Cremains are not returned for private disposition, and no notification of final disposition will be sent to the family.

The families of such donors may go ahead and have their own memorial service as they normally would after death.

We find that individuals who have themselves worked in the medical field have a high ratio of being donors, for they recognize the importance. Medical schools have an ongoing need of bodies for teaching of anatomy or surgery. A few bodies are used for research, developing new medical or surgical procedures.

Both U.C. and Stanford require pre-registration. The forms at UCSF require two people over age 21 to witness the signature. The medical schools provide potential donors with an ID card with the phone number to call upon death. If you later decide to withdraw from the program, you should state this desire in a letter to the medical school, and they will then destroy your signed donation form.

At present it is illegal for medical schools to pay families for the body, and penalties are severe if they do so. A relative cannot prearrange to donate a body to science, but may do so after death (UCSF).

To arrange for body donations in the San Francisco Bay Area, call one of these for packets of information:

John Dolph or Johnella Stevick
Willed Body Program, Division of Anatomy
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, CA 94305
(650) 723-2404

Office of the State Curator
University of California, San Francisco
Department of Anatomy, AC-14
San Francisco, CA 94143-0902
(415) 476-1981

If you live in other areas of the country, contact your closest medical school. Or you may contact the National Anatomical Service, which has been in business since 1975 of procuring and transporting cadavers for various medical schools. NAS is aware of the schools with the greatest need. Call them anywhere in the U.S. at 1-800-727-0700. Headquarters are in New York and they cover the phone 24 hours a day. Arrangements for refrigeration will be made by the service with a local mortuary until transportation is provided. In some cases the medical school pays storage and transportation costs. In other cases, the family may be asked to pay from $150 to $600, depending on the distance to be shipped.

For those who live in a state with no medical school (Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming), or in states where all medical schools require prior enrollment (Arizona, Nebraska, Nevada, South Carolina, and Wisconsin), this service will be of benefit to next-of-kin wishing to make a body donation. You might advise relatives of this option in case the medical school of your choice is in no need at the time of your death.

International shipping of scientific cadavers is not allowed. (But bodies can be shipped privately if placed in a hermetically sealed container.) If you should die while abroad, your family might arrange for a medical school overseas to accept your body, as their need for bodies there might even be greater than in the U.S. For example, in Argentina 200 medical students must share a cadaver. Tell your family if you wish them to consider this option.

The national Funeral Consumers Alliance office has "Uniform Donor Cards" which you can fill out stating your wishes. Phone them for a copy at 1-800-765-0107.