Surprise!! We (your parents) are donating our bodies to medical research...

gwynnhwyfar
...not to mention this vision I have in my head where Mom and Dad are pulled out of their drawers every now and then to be CUT on and... CUT up... Over and over, until the University can't get any more use out of their bodies.

We are talking about my MOM AND DAD.

It seems so much easier to get my head around in theory when talking about donating bodies to science, than it is to think about the reality that this is GOING TO HAPPEN to my own parents.

This may sound cold but when they die they are no longer your parents. What made them your parents no longer exists in those bodies.

calstorm
reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe

 

Actually I would think it would be the opposite, I would think more religious people would have a harder time with it. Being non religious, I could care less.

I know plenty of religious people who it would bother greatly. I take comfort in knowing that they are no longer here, the body is no longer needed so it is easier to let that go.

I guess everyone feels differently regardless of religion or lack thereof.

schuyler
YOU brought this up in public. Your Mom & Dad have chosen to do a selfless thing that has the potential to benefit science in a positive way. That ought to be their decision, and theirs alone. For you to argue with them about their decision and what they ought to with their remains because of your "grief in advance" seems to me to be a very selfish thing to do. It is THEIR lives, THEIR bodies, and THEIR decision. Your role here is to CARRY OUT their wishes, not impose your own. No matter how you wish to spin it with emotion, this isn't about YOU. You "won't sign the papers"!!! Get somebody else! I'm not telling you to "get over it" with some sort of callous disregard for your feelings. I'm saying you shouldn't be there at all and the fact that you are is a gross imposition. I know what I am saying won't be popular, but I am ashamed for you since I doubt you will be yourself. And to mention your dog in the same post? Good Lord!

Yes, my parents are doing a selfless thing that will benefit medical students, research, science etc. I signed the papers. I simply wanted to know where my parents bodies will be interred. Now I will, because I am the next of kin and once the university is finished with their bodies, I will receive the cremains, because I put a few minutes of thought into this decision, contacted the University, got the facts, and requested my kind, caring, and loving parents to check the check-box for cremains being sent to next of kin, which they did.

This thread addresses the emotional and factual realities of decisions that next-of-kin have to deal with. I mentioned my dog in the same post because I am dealing with her death and cremains at the same time as the question of my parents' future death and cremains came up suddenly for my consideration.

That would be a strange conversation I am sure.

I was just talking with someone though about how schools need bodies of deceased in order to experiment. We need to be greatful that there are no longer any Joseph Mangela's torturing living souls anymore (hopefully anyhow).

If people are willing to be dissected after their death for the greater good, then I think they should be allowed to without being made to feel as though they are in the wrong. If there is not enough people willinging to allow this to happen then we get more Mangela's once again.

My mom passed away in Washington state, I live in New York and have yet to go to her burial spot (she was cremated but part of her remains are buried). Anyhow, I took some of her hair when she was still in the hospital so a piece of her will always be near and I can visit with her whenever I want. I suggest you do the same and try to understand that what your parents are doing (as icky as it sounds) is a good thing

I am sorry you lost your dog.

I have made the decision to donate my body. I forgot to tell my mom first, and then learned that she bought a plot for me where my dad is and where, one day, she will be. I have not yet decided what to do about the problem of my remains being returned or just dumped wherever. I frankly don't care; I will be dead.

Nevermind. I was reacting to one poster - when I looked back through, everyone else was kind and respectful.