Posted by on July 31, 2009
Many people consider donating their body to science in lieu of choosing a funeral followed by burial in a cemetery. Body donation (or medical donation, as it is sometimes called), has advantages and disadvantages
Advantages of donating your body to science
One of the chief advantages related to donating your body to science is that this option is often considerably less expensive than other funeral options. By donating your body to science, you avoid costs associated with body burial in a cemetery. You may also be able to lower or reduce costs related to the headstone or memorial marker.
A body donation can also be fairly simple to arrange: normally you file basic paperwork with a donor program (usually a medical school) and then notify the donor program immediately following the death. Representatives from the medical school will dispatch professionals to pick up the decedent and transport the body back to the medical school.
Moreover, the donor program or medical school accepting the body usually takes full responsibility for handling the eventual cremation and burial tasks. Families are usually given the option of having cremated remains buried at the school site or returned to the family once the school is finished using the body for teaching purposes.
Donating your body to medical science also has an altruistic advantage in that your donation helps train future doctors and surgeons and may help find cures to a variety of diseases. While this may not be a high priority in some families, other families take solace in the fact that they are able to make a positive impact on future generations.
Medical donation / Body donation – disadvantages to consider
While medical donation offers many advantages, there are also disadvantages you should consider before finalizing your plans.
You need to plan carefully to ensure that the body will be accepted regardless of the manner of death. Some donation programs exclude bodies that have expired from certain conditions. Should you (or a loved one) die in a manner that is excluded under the terms of the donor program, surviving family members would be responsible for making alternative arrangements. This means even if you were planning on donating your body to science at relatively no cost, you could end up with unexpected funeral bills.
Most donor programs have counselors that can clearly explain which methods of death are acceptable or excludable under their program guidelines. By talking with the donor program counselor and reviewing their literature, you can reduce –and in many cases eliminate- the risk of an expensive surprise. Some programs will agree to accept the body regardless of the manner of death – even if the school determines they cannot use the body for teaching purposes.
It is also important to remember that medical donation may not be a viable alternative for “at need” cases. Most donor programs require program registration prior to the time of death. Because most medical schools require the decedent to be delivered immediately upon death, there often is not enough time to register for medical donation after the person has died.
This means you should have a backup plan when choosing medical donation. You want to have a “plan B” just in case your donation is not accepted by the medical school because of an excludable manner of death or because the body could not be transported to the medical school within a reasonable amount of time. Again, the donor program counselor will be able to provide clear guidance as to what manners of death and what time frames for delivery are acceptable.
Also, because most medical schools use bodily organs in their research, they usually do not accept bodies whose organs have been donated. So if donating your organs is important to you, the medical donation option may not be available to you. Similarly, autopsied bodies are usually not eligible for medical donation for the same reason.
Note: most medical schools do allow you to donate your eyes without jeopardizing a full body donation.
While donating your body to science can be a wonderful way to serve future generations, the process may not celebrate the decedent’s life as the family wants. Because time is of the essence when donating a body, there usually is not time to hold a funeral or memorial service with the body present. This doesn’t mean the family can’t hold a memorial service anyway; it just means that they will have to hold the service in the absence of the body or cremated remains.
Because some families find that holding a funeral is therapeutic and helps them begin the healing process, forgoing a funeral for body donation, may be less satisfying to some surviving family members.
Although all medical schools hold a community memorial service to pay respects to the bodies used during the previous semester’s classes, this ceremony usually does not occur until approximately 18 months after the date of death. This extended “waiting period” often may delay the family’s feeling of closure.
Lastly, because the body needs to be preserved for a long time period (usually until the next school semester starts), the medical school will be required to embalm the body.
Donating your body to medical science has many advantages and disadvantages. The above considerations can be used as a starting point for making an appropriate decision.
You can learn more about donating your body to medical science here.
Related sources:
Find body donation programs in the United States
Body donation information from the Cleveland Clinic.
Posted by on April 12, 2009
Funeral homes provide different services depending on the needs and preferences of the decedent’s family.
While many people use the phrases “funeral service” and “memorial service” interchangeably, they are actually different services.
A “funeral service” is any official ceremony that takes place in the presence of a casketed body. In other words, the body (inside a casket) is present during the ceremony. The casket lid may be open or closed.
A “memorial service”, on the other hand, is any official ceremony that takes place without the casketed body being present. For example, the ceremony might take place with just an urn containing cremated remains (i.e. “ashes”) serving as the focal point of the ceremony. Alternatively, the focal point could be just a picture of the deceased displayed on an easel.
Other than this distinction, both a funeral service and a memorial service are similar. Both types of services last approximately 25 minutes and are usually accompanied by a eulogy delivered by a family member or clergy member.
Usually, a funeral home will charge the same amount for a memorial ceremony as they charge for a funeral ceremony (around $500). Remember, the ceremony itself is just one component of overall funeral costs. A typical funeral or memorial service can easily run more than $7,000.
There are many things you may want to consider when deciding between a funeral, memorial, or cremation service.
Learn more about funeral and memorial options.
Posted by on March 19, 2009
This article shows you things you can do to plan an affordable funeral. With the typical funeral now costing more than the price of a decent used car, many families need help planning a more affordable funeral (or cremation) service.
Typical funeral costs vs. affordable funeral costs
Most American funerals now cost between $8,000 and $10,000. Unfortunately, as baby boomers age, demand for funeral services will grow and drive funeral prices up even further. Some experts predict that within three years the average traditional funeral will cost nearly $12,000.
With proper planning and a little foresight, you can realistically reduce out-of-pocket funeral expenses by at least 50%.
Is it too late to plan an affordable funeral service?
While most families do end up spending close to $10,000 on funeral expenses when a loved one dies, more families are also finding ways to reduce or eliminate the tremendous financial burden that death brings.
The key to affordable funeral planning starts by understanding the funeral industry. Unfortunately, most information about funeral planning comes from funeral directors themselves – or at least it used to. Sites such as funeral tips.com can take the mystery out of funeral planning and provide objective advice that benefits family members.
Most families don’t know much about funeral planning. It’s not a topic we like to think about, and the average family only plans a funeral about once every fifteen years. This means that most families automatically go along with whatever recommendations the funeral director makes.
Unfortunately, many families don’t realize that funeral homes are in business to make money, so funeral homes won’t usually offer more affordable choices to families – unless the family knows what to ask for.
That’s the bad news; the good news is that a little education goes a long way. For example, the typical family using an objective funeral planning guide such as the Funeral Saver’s Kit, usually cuts their funeral bills by more than 50% – saving themselves thousands of dollars in unnecessary expenses.
Planning a more affordable funeral
Here’s a great tip from the Funeral Saver’s Kit that can help you plan a more affordable funeral or cremation service: understand how funeral homes price their goods and services. While most funeral homes offer similar services, they often price their services differently. For example, Funeral Home A might charge a large fee for the funeral directors’ time and add a small markup on the price of a casket; while Funeral Home B might charge a smaller fee for the funeral director’s time, but then make up for it by charging more for the casket.
Even though on paper both funeral homes appear to offer the same overall price for a traditional funeral, you’ll find that in most cases, Funeral Home B is willing to give you a larger discount off their normal pricing structure. You can use the Funeral Saver’s Kit to find those funeral homes in your area that are most likely to offer you a large discount. It’s easy to negotiate a discount once you know how, and you really can save thousands of dollars in the process.
The affordable funeral vs. cremation
Over the last few years, a new trend has been emerging: more families are choosing cremation in lieu of a full-blown funeral. The good news is that cremation can be less expensive than a funeral followed by body burial. Unfortunately, to protect profit margins, most funeral homes have increased their cremation prices, making cremation a less attractive option compared to what it was just a few years ago.
While some families have no preference for the deceased, many families don’t like being forced to choose cremation solely because that’s the only thing they can afford.
If you prefer a traditional funeral but can only afford cremation, don’t despair. There is plenty you can do to bridge the price gap and lower your overall funeral bill. The key is knowing which funeral home expenses can be eliminated without impacting the funeral service itself.
If you aren’t sure which items can be safely eliminated without impacting a quality funeral service, read the relevant section in the Funeral Saver’s Kit.
Affordable funeral costs – what’s the verdict?
As the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age, demand for funeral goods and services will outstrip the ability of funeral homes to provide those goods and services. Unfortunately, this means that funeral prices will likely increase by a substantial amount over the next two decades.
Fortunately, technology and the Internet can make it easier for savvy families to beat the funeral homes at their own game. Consumer-friendly funeral planning tools, such as the Funeral Saver’s Kit, can save families thousands of dollars in unnecessary expenses and help them plan a more affordable funeral. This is especially welcome news in such uncertain economic times.
Posted by on February 26, 2009
Many people consider donating their body to science in lieu of choosing a funeral followed by cemetery burial.
Donating your body to science: a basic description
When you choose to donate a deceased body to science, you are essentially donating the body to aid medical research – usually to teach medical students about anatomy.
When you donate a body, a representative from the medical school picks up the body and takes it to back to the school school where it’s embalmed and stored. The body is used to teach anatomy to medical students during the following semester’s classes. After the semester ends, the body is cremated.
The cremated remains (i.e. cremains) are either returned to the family or buried in communal plot in a cemetery near the medical school.
Families choosing to donate a body to science can still choose to hold their own memorial service after the death; however, in cases of body donation, the cremains will not be present during the memorial service (because the body needs to be transported to the medical school immediately following death).
The medical school usually holds a single memorial service for all of the bodies used during the previous semester’s classes, and surviving family members are invited to attend the ceremony. The medical school’s memorial service occurs approximately two years after the date of death.
After the school holds their memorial service, the cremains are usually buried in a cemetery near the medical school. However, the family can also request the cremains be returned to the family. Again, this occurs nearly two years after death.
Body donation – typical requirements
Medical schools have specific rules that must be followed in order to donate a body for their use. Most schools only accept fully-intact bodies (because they can also use the organs in their research). This means most schools will not accept a body that has been autopsied or that has donated bodily organs.
Note: usually, you are allowed to donate the eyes without jeopardizing the full body donation – but check with your specific donation program first, just to be sure.
Here is an index that identifies body donation programs.
I live near the Cleveland Clinic, and they also have a reputable medical donation program.
There is usually no cost associated with donating a body to a medical school, as long as you deal directly with the school itself. Many funeral homes will help arrange a medical donation, but they usually charge a fee (about $1,000) for doing so.
If you are thinking about body donation as a way to avoid the expense of a funeral, considering consulting the Funeral Saver’s Kit. Its helped thousands of families reduce burdensome funeral expenses and choose the end-of-life options that are right for them. It includes even more information about donating a body to science.
Posted by on February 24, 2009
This article discusses cremation costs related to choosing a cremation with services.
Broadly speaking, the average cost of cremation with services handled through a funeral home is between $2,000 and $4,000. If these same services are handled directly through a crematory, you can expect to pay between $1,500 and $3,000.
Typically, these prices include the cost of the actual cremation and a basic memorial service. Some families may instead choose to cremate the body after first holding a viewing or funeral ceremony.
This type of cremation with service can increase costs considerably by requiring you to purchase a casket and pay more for the funeral director’s basic services.
When choosing cremation following a funeral service, you can expect to pay between $4,000 to $6,000 at a funeral home or $3,000 to $4,000 at a crematory.
You can learn more about controlling cremation costs here.
