Someone thinks that being of a person is a preparation for the afterlife. Someone – that after death there is nothing. And now these second ones have a great opportunity to help humanity. It is ambiguous and seems strange even to hardened atheists. But without it, humanity would hardly have advanced so far in medicine. It’s about the will of his body to science.
Even in the Renaissance, prominent minds, trying to look into the depths of the unknown, carried out an autopsy. Now it is quite common practice. Posthumously bequeathing parts of his body to the health care system in USA is an elementary task. Under the current legislation of our country, there is a partial presumption of consent to donation, according to which there is no reason to believe that a person would be against the posthumous use of his organs to save the lives of other people. Therefore, if the dying person or his relatives did not bother with the refusal to withdraw, healthy organs will get to those who have been standing in an endless queue for transplantation for years. The process of transferring one’s body to science is not legally regulated by law in USA, therefore, in order to realize its noble impulse, it will be necessary to strain.
There are several ways to serve science. You can become a visual aid for medical students, or you can at a scientific research institute and become an important part of the research, or even push progress forward. Although it is considered that only marginals leave their body to science. Among those who voluntarily bequeathed themselves to the future, not so many big names – except Lenin and Einstein. Well, still Ozzy Osbourne, since science should know how he, with his way of life, reached out to such a respectable age.
In USA, as in most developed countries, the human body and its organs cannot be the subject of a contract, therefore the desire to become a fuel for progress, like any higher goal, will be gratuitous. Since there is a presumption of consent in our country, donation after death is not allowed only if the deceased himself or his relatives have said no to do so, and the medical institution where the deceased is in has been notified of such disagreement at the time of the decision to withdraw organs.
Probably, everything will depend on your decision with your family. For some people, the body is just a shell. For others – this is a man who once owned him, said “goodbye”, kissed, lived, talked. Therefore, it is reasonable to discuss your noble decision with your family in advance and very delicately. After all, when the inevitable happens, they will surely be blinded by grief, and the thought that they will dispose of the unhappy body as a toy can confuse many. Therefore, you need to make a decision in life.
Many universities will welcome you with open arms. If you come healthy, they will not try to put you on a tiled table, and sign a contract and will wait for that fateful day. Anyway, the decision remains for you and your loved ones. We will only tell you how it will look to make it easier to make a decision.
And let you do not confuse sarcastic notes. Death is so natural that there is no point in deifying it. We will all die: you, and even more so the author. So we will meet the end of our days as an old friend and think about serving society with the prefix “posthumously.”
Donate a piece of yourself
The question must be solved in life, otherwise it will be too late. For example, in the UK there are several different options. You can give your body for short-term use. That is, the mortal body is studied for several months, everything valuable is extracted from it and, having received the maximum, is returned to the family. If you give the body too miserably, and you really want a large part of it to be buried in the ground or on fire, then you can donate an organ for short-term use. Your drunken liver will be turned in your hands, empty into multiple sections, soaked in a variety of liquids and solutions, like some sock, and returned to your relatives. It will be possible to do beautifully: your body lies in the city in which you lived half my life, and the organ in your homeland.
Not so simple
All our lives, we are subject to scrutiny by the environment. There are sure to be willing to carry out a detailed analysis of your abilities and talents – so to speak, to find out what you are capable of and how you can come in handy. Examinations at institutes, schools, even in the army at the medical board. Then – at work, through an interview. Then – in personal communication: potential friends appreciate how you can be useful and how interesting. And then in private life: through dating filters, you are rated as a husband.
And so all my life: you grind in the environment around you, and the environment looks at how you will endure this stage. And the worst thing in all of this is not to meet the criteria and get a rejection. How disgusting to be unclaimed. Even worse than living life and realizing that you did not bring any benefit to this planet. There remains a timid hope of death: perhaps your life-unfriendly shell will help science and, therefore, future generations. But, alas, even here one will have to undergo an assessment of the quality of the future corpse. During the lifetime.
The fact is that most people are not interested in science: up to 70% are refused during their lifetime. To be privileged to be cut into small pieces posthumously, you must first answer an extensive list of questions about your health and social life. Hardly accept a patient with hepatitis or HIV. If the death occurred as a result of a strong accident and the body literally turned into a broken mess, then it is also unlikely to be accepted.
It is much easier to become a cadavor – not a boring video blogger, but a dead body, intended for anatomy lessons at medical students and polishing the skill of autopsy. But, again, take the body only in good condition, and not disfigured and wrinkled, like persimmon under pressure. Then you can present a stiff gift to hospitals and hospitals, which sometimes because of the lack of their own material can be useful dead volunteers. Young people and doctors need objects to hone their skills. It may seem blasphemous that your body has become a dummy, but think about how many lives it will help save.
The patient will not die from an autopsy.
Those who donate their bodies to science may not be too concerned about what exactly will happen to their remains. And what’s the difference – they obviously will not be resurrected.
However, if you choose “research and education”, then there are good chances to be on a cold metal table surrounded by first-year medical students. What a pity that you will not see their reaction: someone faints, someone smiles like a maniac, and someone grimacing disgustedly – a whole range of living, genuine, children’s emotions. And no one will know your name – only the date of birth and the cause of death. Anonymity, as in most other donations, is guaranteed. The demand for cadavers is high enough, and do not be embarrassed that you will be gutted by dozens of shaking, inept hands. It will not hurt and, in general, anyway, but the need for mannequins is big. According to experts, the service life of each body is two, less often – three years. Subsequently, it is not very suitable for full use.
For the benefit of forensic scientists
Suppose you always suffered from claustrophobia. The idea of a coffin makes you uneasy and even after death find yourself in a confined space. The idea of cremation is also not pleasant: well, it is not pleasant to realize that ash will remain after you. You can, of course, put you in a forest or in a national reserve, so that your body naturally mixes with nature, but then your family will have big problems. Well, who in our time is scattered around the corpses, even if they have received a death certificate at the registry office.
If you can’t wait to go so far without a black suit and a wooden box, and even for the benefit of the world, then welcome to one of the five farms for the body. Nothing grows on it – only decomposes. Instead of growing crops and raising livestock on these farms, the decomposition of human bodies under various conditions is studied. The knowledge gained in the research process is invaluable to law enforcement agencies around the world.
Donor bodies are used by scientists to find out how different weather conditions and terrain affect the decomposition of human bodies. The bodies of people are located either in the open, accessible to the wild nature, terrain, or placed under special cells. The first method allows you to explore how the body can change under the influence of animals, and the second – bacteria. And unfortunate graduate students are forced to take readings. Then some particularly impressionable necrophil will fall in love with the object of observation, and a whole book or at least a song will be written about it.
Alas, these farms are only in the USA. On the other side of the Atlantic, they are prohibited by law. But if there is an opportunity to die in the New World, and at the same time you do not believe that the soul of an unburied person will suffer and get random travelers, then think about this method.
Doomed immortality in the bone shell
Science is interested not only in meat, but also in bones. For example, in the same American schools you can find the skeleton of quite a normal person. These are the donors who donate their skeleton. They say that in Soviet times it was also possible to donate my bones, but not to schools, but to scientific research institutes. But now they are no longer accepted. On the one hand, it is rather creepy, because in fact a dead person is in a room with quite lively young people. On the other hand, this is perhaps the most effective way to gain immortality. And at the same time become the object of intent gaze.
It is known that some research institutes take bodies specifically to turn them into skeletons. Others are interesting bones that have more scientific value. For example, skeletons of cancer patients can provide valuable insights into bone metastases, while skeletons with osteoporosis can help scientists discover potential treatments.
Tour abroad
Surely, you always wanted to see the world, but there was always not enough money or time for this. There is a great opportunity to do this after death – to send your organs to countries where customs and traditions prohibit taking organs from a dead body. You can do it easier and bequeath your body to some rich citizen who travels the world. So even closer to your dream, since it is unlikely that you wanted to settle in Sudan. And nevertheless, there is an opportunity to do this through the organization “Body Broker”. This is completely legal and has nothing to do with illegal kidney and heart traffic around the world. This is a great help to people who cannot take organs from dead co-religionists, but who without transplant themselves will go to the kingdom of the dead.
However, try to be selective: not all such organizations are clean. Give your own what is called, safer. But again, this is only possible if your organs do not crumble when the wind blows.
Like grandpa Lenin and Han Solo
Most often, the bodies of the dead are embalmed – so they are stored more reliably and longer. Embalmed corpses are commonly used in anatomical organisms to train anatomy students. True, you have to get fat, because in the process of embalming the body is quite pumped with liquid: up to 50 kilograms of additional mass is added to it. That is why extremely fat people usually cannot donate bodies: the corpse will simply be impossible to move.
Some donated bodies are stored in the freezer for quite a while, waiting for their turn to be used. This is done because, although embalmed corpses are stored better, their tissues become harder and different from living ones. But the frozen dead tissue is almost like living people. Therefore, it is these corpses that are usually used to train future surgeons and conduct some medical research.
But there is another way, much more eccentric.
Not a corpse, but an object of art
If before going to the Champs-Elysées (but not those in Paris, but in the kingdom of Hades), you would enter the head to join the art, then the easiest way is to turn to the amazing anatomist Gunter von Hagens, who plasticizing will make you a mummy. The method is very simple: all organic liquids in the tissues of the corpse are replaced with various kinds of plastics, latex and other rubbish. The method guarantees complete protection of tissues from decomposition, allows you to make anatomical preparations of high quality and good appearance, an additional advantage of which is their complete safety. That is, you can safely touch the body without the need to urgently sanitize your hands. The smell, of course, no.
Many critics say that it is disrespectful to the dead, but people from the list of donors for plasticization seem to consider this to be a kind of immortality. And what have art? Yes, despite the fact that the professor often arranges exhibitions of their bodies. Since they do not lose their flexibility, it gives them bizarre poses, which makes it pleasant to look at the corpses. Probably.
If you like this idea, then you can register to become a donor through the Institute of Plastics. But this is no guarantee that you will be part of the show. The institute has more than 13,000 registered donors awaiting their perpetuation in plastic, and very few take part in the traveling exhibition. Instead, the professor promises that you will be used for “medical training of doctors” and for “general medical education of the public.” Let’s not forget that, first of all, plasticized bodies are used for scientific purposes – so to speak, as a visual aid for students.
Save life or make someone’s lips more
Tissue donation is closely related to organ donation. But the difference is that the tissues can be collected 24 hours after death, whereas the organs should be removed immediately, because with oxygen starvation, their condition will begin to deteriorate rapidly.
Tissue donation, like organ donation, can potentially save lives. But tissue donation is also big business, which means that someone else will profit from your death. According to NPR, the income of the fabric industry as a whole is about 1 billion dollars a year, and one human organism in tissues costs about 80,000 dollars. You could buy yourself a 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio, but you won’t get any money. Thus, a generous donation of your mortal remains may seem altruistic, but this does not mean that no one benefits from your death. Worse, there is no guarantee that your fabrics will save the life of a child — perhaps they will be used to make inhuman lips. Therefore, if you want to spend yourself with benefit, choose non-profit organizations.
Another car accident death
Let’s be frank: not everyone understands the phrase “donate your body to science”. This does not mean that your body will be used only for medical research. Moreover, neither you nor your relatives will know exactly where they will direct you. Do not forget that the military industry is not asleep: they really know a lot about posthumous heroes, no matter how lousy this fact looks.
With a predatory grin, the automotive industry looked at corpses, and until the 50s, people who died by non-violent death were used instead of dummies. The downside was that, as a rule, these were elderly people and did not give a complete picture of the accident.
The army will find you after death
Well, since I mentioned the army, we will tell you in more detail. Compared to their research, crash tests seem to be pampering.
Why do the military need corpses? Because they need to know whether their new mine will tear off the feet of a soldier or not. And the best way to find out about this is to step on it directly. It is unlikely that your relatives will like this situation, and therefore some corpses pass through a sort of gray market before they reach their final destination. Prices, according to the Center for Applied Ethics. Markkula, considerable – 30,000 dollars for the body.
This does not mean that the military does not receive legal rights to most of their corpses. Moreover, your posthumous way does not become less noble, because the soldiers are also people, and people are dependent, and many studies are designed to save their lives.
On the one hand there is light, but on the other hand there is no
It is very difficult to imagine our carnal husk just as ourselves, it is almost impossible, even if we are no longer in it, the light has gone out, the consciousness has turned off, and the frail shell has entered the stage of the next humus. It would seem that everything is so banal. However, at the same time, nothing is more unique than your life and your body. But there are a number of factors that say that it is much more logical to give oneself to society, and not to the earth.
First, the funeral road. This is at least 10,000 Dollar. And that much depends on the region. Cremation is cheaper, but it is also money. And most importantly, it is not in all cities. Given these tough realities, it is not surprising that some people simply do not claim the bodies of their loved ones. On the other hand, you will simply be shredded, but you will obviously bring more benefits than just taking a place in a churchyard under a marble monument. And no commemoration, unfamiliar people, funerals and feasts over the grave on the Parent’s Day – an atheist’s dream! It is better to become a tool for young physicians who will save people by your example, than to lie for ages under a neglected and gradually collapsing grave.
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