Glossary
What is body donation?
Body donation, or whole-body donation, is giving your body after death to a medical school or research program for education and study. It is different from organ donation, is usually low- or no-cost to the family, and the program typically returns cremated remains afterward.
Donated bodies help train medical students and surgeons and advance research. Programs have acceptance criteria, and not every body can be accepted, so it helps to register in advance and have a backup plan.
Most accredited programs cover transport and cremation and return the ashes to the family within months to a couple of years. Read the program's terms carefully.
Related terms
Disposition
Disposition refers to the final handling of a body — most commonly burial, entombment, cremation, or alkaline hydrolysis. The method of disposition is recorded on official paperwork and usually requires authorization from the legal next of kin.
Cremation
Cremation is the use of intense heat to reduce a body to bone fragments, which are then processed into cremated remains and returned to the family. It is an alternative to burial and can be paired with a funeral, a memorial, or no service at all.
Cremains
Cremains is a common term for cremated remains — the bone fragments left after cremation, processed into a coarse, sandy material. They are returned to the family and can be kept in an urn, buried, scattered, or placed in a niche.
Common questions about Body donation
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This definition is general information, not legal or financial advice. Laws and prices vary by state and provider. See our editorial standards.