Donating Your Body to Science

Q:  I want to donate my body to the Medical College of Wisconsin for research purposes. I have a living will made out and have told the children that there is to be no funeral.

Are there any special papers to be filled out? Any help you can give me would be most appreciated.

A:  The Medical College of Wisconsin maintains an anatomical gift registry.

Bodies that are donated may be used to instruct students in their human anatomy classes or in research to discover the causes of human disease and suffering and new ways to treat these maladies.

Rest assured that your donation would be handled with great respect by the gift registry.

You can call the MCW's Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy for more information at (414) 456-8261.

They will send you a packet of information and forms that you will need to fill out.

You can also write to the following address: Anatomical Gift Registry, Medical College of Wisconsin, Department of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, 8701 Watertown Plank Road, Milwaukee, WI 53226.

On behalf of all medical students, I thank you and your family for your inquiry and bequest.

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