Understanding Whole-Body Donations
Handling whole-body donations is one of many cremation services in Syracuse, NY. Whole-body donations can be done for two purposes, both of which will impact many lives. One purpose is for organ and tissue donations.
If all organs are in good shape, they can be used as transplants in people who would otherwise die without them. Usually, six to eight people can be the recipients of organs from a whole-body donation. Tissue recipients can add up to 50 or more people. That’s a huge impact from a single person, and it truly makes in the different in the lives of those who receive the donations.
The second purpose of whole-body donations is for medical research. If the deceased loved one suffered from organ failure, cancer, or dementia, researchers can gain valuable insights into the disease process from studying these parts of the body. From those insights, new ways to treat the underlying diseases or their symptoms can be developed to help others who are fighting the same illnesses.
It’s important to note that being an organ donor (symbol on the back of the driver’s license) does not mean you’re a whole-body donor. There is a different set of paperwork and authorizations that need to be completed for whole-body donation.
The other thing to be aware of is that a whole-body donation is not an autopsy, so the family of someone who has donated their body for harvesting or research will not get any kind of report that will give them a detailed cause of death (the primary care or attending physician will give a cause of death for the death certificate).
Some people have unfounded fears about whole-body donation, and that may keep them from being willing to do it.
One of those fears about whole-body donation is that if medical personnel know the person is a whole-body donor, they won’t work as hard to save them in a medical emergency, if that’s the person’s wish. Nothing could be further than the truth. Hospital personnel are in the life-saving business and unless you have a living will that specifies that you don’t want that when you’re in the process of dying, they will exhaust every avenue to try to save your life.
Another fear surrounding whole-body donation is that after organs and tissue are harvested, the body is just dumped somewhere. It’s not. All whole-donation bodies are handled with dignity and respect by the research teams that receive the donation. Most of them hold a memorial service to honor the person who gave so selflessly to other people, whether for organ and tissue donation or for advancement in scientific research. The body of the deceased is then cremated and returned to the family.
A third fear about whole-body donations is related to the belief the person who wants to donate their body is too ill for organs or tissue to be harvested. Most of the time, people die of a single catastrophic accident or illness, such as cardiac failure, cancer, strokes, or neurodegenerative diseases like Huntington’s Disease or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease).
While the parts of the body that are affected by these diseases may be in bad shape, the rest of the body may be healthy (corneas of the eyes, for instance, may be fine) and can be harvested to give life or improve life for others.
If you would like to learn more about whole-body donations and cremation services in Syracuse, NY, our compassionate and experienced team at Bagozzi Twins Funeral Home, Inc. is here to help. You can visit us at our funeral home at 2601 Milton Ave., Solvay, NY 13209, or you can call us today at (315) 468-2431.
