Imagining one’s own body in the hands of medical students after one’s death remains, for many, a difficult idea. THE
body donation to science still remains taboo, even if this gesture makes it possible to train tomorrow’s caregivers and advance very concrete research on operating techniques and prostheses.
This approach is not to be confused with organ donation and requires a written decision during one’s lifetime, closely supervised by the public health code and by specialized structures. The whole thing is free for the donor and his family when the body is not returned. What does it really mean donate your body to science
today in France?
Body donation to science: what is it really for?
In French law, the body donation
consists of entrusting one’s body, at the time of death, to an authorized training or health establishment so that it can be used for medical teaching and research purposes. The bodies are taken care of by a reception structure, often an anatomy laboratory attached to a health faculty or a university hospital center, which preserves them and makes them available for training programs and validated research projects.
The beneficiaries are numerous: medical students, future surgeons, midwives, nurses, but also doctors already in practice who come to train in new techniques. “Concretely, body donations make it possible to train medical personnel such as surgeons, to advance research“, explains Jean-Pierre Faure, head of the body donation center at Poitiers University Hospital, in an interview with France 3. In Poitiers, bodies are for example used with the Pprime Institute to test the resistance of knee prostheses or to train teams in spine surgery. The Caen Health Center recalls that nearly 2,500 people donate their bodies to science in France each year, including around 150 in Caen, which illustrates the growing importance of this gesture.
Donate your body to science: who can do it and how to register
The general rule is simple. “Everyone. It must be an adult who is not under guardianship.“, replies Jean-Pierre Faure. The public health code specifies that you must be of age, and not be the subject of a guardianship measure or family authorization for the purposes of representing the person. Minors cannot donate their body. Donation centers also insist on the fact that the decision must be taken personally by the donor, and formulated in writing during their lifetime; no request from those close to them can replace this wish, and the family cannot object when a valid declaration exists.
In practice, the registration process follows several steps specified by the texts and the universities which manage the body donation centers:
- First contact the nearest body reception structure (faculty of health or authorized health establishment) to request a file and a detailed information document on the body donation for medical education and research purposes;
- After this information time, write a declaration of consent entirely handwritten, dated and signed, according to the model provided. In certain centers, this declaration must be certified at the town hall before being sent to the center;
- The establishment co-signs this declaration, undertakes to respect the donor’s choices (for example on the return of the body or ashes) and gives a copy to the donor;
- The center then delivers a donor cardwhich the person undertakes to keep with them at all times, and invites them to designate a contact person and to inform their family of their decision.
As the administration reminds us, “There is no “right to donate”“: an establishment may refuse to issue a card if its reception capacities are exceeded or if certain conditions are not met. The LaDAF Family Federation confirms for its part that “Body donation is free. The donor cannot be remunerated for his donation“. No costs can be claimed from the donor for transport to the reception structure nor for funeral operations when the body or ashes are not returned. Consent also remains revocable at any time: it is sufficient to send a written declaration to the establishment that issued the card, attaching the card or its number, so that it bears the words “consent revoked” in its register and destroy the donation documents.
After death: what happens to a body given to science and the place of the family
At the time of death, several conditions must be met for the body donation to medicine can actually be achieved. A doctor draws up a death certificate and, where applicable, a certificate of non-contagion; without these documents, the center can refuse the body. The law requires that transport to the reception facility be carried out within a maximum of 48 hours from the death. The transport is declared to the town hall of the place of death and carried out by a funeral operator chosen by the establishment, who accompanies the family or the contact person until the body is removed. However, certain deaths require a refusal of treatment: death abroad with burial, contagious diseases requiring immediate burial, autopsy or medico-legal obstacle (road accident, suicide, death by weapon), poor preservation of the body, or even exceeding the 48-hour deadline. In these cases, the establishment that issued the card attempts, when possible, to contact another authorized center closer to the place of death; if no transfer is possible, the family must then organize a traditional funeral, at their own expense.
On arrival at the reception structure, the body receives an identifying number which guarantees anonymity throughout the duration of the teaching and research activities. It is kept in a cold room or embalmed, then used as needed, within a maximum period of two years after its reception, unless extended after consulting the ethics, scientific and educational committee. Before any use, each training or research project must receive a favorable opinion from this committee, then the agreement of the head of the structure. Once the work is completed, the teams carry out the best possible restoration of the body before funeral operations or, when the donor wishes and it is feasible, the return of the body or ashes to the contact person, the family or a loved one. In many centers, such as Angers or Grenoble, the bodies are cremated and the ashes are either scattered in a space reserved for donors at the cemetery, or given to the contact person. Stelae and memorial registers exist to allow families to reflect, and an annual remembrance ceremony is organized to pay tribute to donors, unless the latter object. As Jean-Pierre Faure reports, “Many people are increasingly saying to themselves: “It has to be useful”. I see a real change in morals and mentalities, because, despite everything, a donation of the body is not nothing“.
Finally, the centers point out that it is possible to be both an organ donor and a body donor, with the removal of organs intended for a transplant remaining a priority over the subsequent use of the body for teaching and research purposes.