Cremation After Body Donation

Science Care is a body donation to science program that works to link donors who choose to donate their body to science with medical researchers and educators who help to improve quality of life for all of us. Many of our intended body donors and the loved ones we support in the body donation process have questions about how cremation after body donation works.

Starting the Process

Donating with Science Care is completely free for all accepted donors and their families. This includes the cost of transportation into our care, cremation, filing of the death certificate and permits, and the cost to return the cremated remains to the designated recipient. The only cost the loved ones are responsible for is the purchase of certified copies of the death certificate from the vital records and statistics office in the county of the passing.

Once a donor is accepted into our program and brought into our care, our team works to procure bone, skin, and tissue to support medical research, training, and education programs. We work with a large variety of different medical, educational, and research programs at any given time. These programs are working to study and train on everything from new, less invasive surgical techniques that reduce recovery times and improve patient outcomes, medical device development to help people regain mobility or hearing, and even developing pharmaceuticals to aid in the treatment of disease and cancer. These are just a few examples of the impact body donors have in advancing medicine. 

Details on Cremation

Many intended donors or their loved ones frequently ask us why we offer free cremation if we are a body donation to science program, and we understand how that might seem confusing. To best honor the intent of donation, our team makes every effort to match each donor with as many programs as possible. On average, our donors participate in six different research programs, with some donors participating in up to ten or more research programs.

Any tissue that doesn’t match our current programs at the time of donation is cremated and can be returned to a designated cremation recipient. Typically, the equivalent of a quarter of a cup to two cups of cremated remains are what is returned to the designated cremated remains recipient depending on the number of programs the donor was matched with.

As a fully accredited program, Science Care has a robust audit tracking and tracing system. From the moment a donor enters our care, they are assigned a designated ID number that stays with them for tracking purposes throughout the entire process. We only work with licensed crematories that support our thorough tracking process.

For most states, loved ones can expect to receive the cremated remains within three to five weeks following the doctor signing the death certificate. For those who reside in Arizona, the process usually takes two to four weeks.

If you reside in a state where we operate a local facility (Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, or Texas) you can coordinate with our team to pick up your loved one from our care in person. In all other situations, our team works with the US Postal Service to ship the remains by Priority Express.

We often get questions on what happens to the donated tissue once it has been utilized for research. All remains are handled in accordance with all local, state, and federal disposition guidelines. 

Donating your body to science is different than traditional cremation. At Science Care, we understand that making a decision about your end-of-life plans is a deeply personal choice. Our team is here to support you and your loved ones as you determine if body donation to science is right for you. We’ve created an end-of-life options guide that may offer guidance as you make the best decision for you and your loved ones.