Full body donation: What it means to donate your body to science and how it works

Donating your body to medical science means it is used to benefit medical teaching and research. Donor bodies are used to teach medical and other health science students the relationship between systems and the structure of the human body

Mon, 24 Nov, 2025 - 20:00

Gwen Loughman

Organ donation and transplantation save lives. It’s nearly six months since the Human Tissue Act came in to effect on June 17, stating that if you are aged 18 or over, and you don’t specify otherwise, you will be considered a potential organ donor. But what happens if, in a final act of altruism, a person wishes to go one step further and gift their body to science following death?

Maeve Williams in Rathfarnham, Dublin, has helped three close relatives enter the donor programme over the past 12 years. Williams was also named as next-of-kin and the person of contact for all family members.

“I have a nursing background and had seen how the programme worked when I studied anatomy in the RCSI and had witnessed anatomy demonstrations. I was able to allay their fears and reassure them that donors were treated with the greatest respect and their dignity maintained at all times.”

Anatomy departments request that donations be received within 48 hours of death. Time of passing and even the day of the week can play a part in the outcome — as Williams discovered when her second uncle died.

Maeve Williams has helped three close relatives to enter the donation programme over the past 12 years

Although the family had previous experience and had prepared for every eventuality, with all necessary paperwork ready at a moment’s notice, what they couldn’t anticipate was time of death: “It was night-time on a Saturday and his regular doctors were not on duty. This led to a time delay in pronouncing his death and then the medical school could not be contacted till later the next day.”

As a result, the family were unable to hold a wake, with only close family arriving at the hospital to pay their respects.

Irish people are renowned for their wakes and funerals and giving loved ones ‘a good send-off’. In Williams’s case, however, there was a two-and-a-half year wait until her deceased uncles were available for burial. And there is a third relative in the programme, and Williams has no knowledge of when they will be returned.

This part of the procedure can be hard: “My son was very close to my uncle and even though he didn’t say it at the time, he later admitted that he found the whole process very traumatic.”

“It really bothered him that he didn’t have a grave to visit, but, more importantly, that he didn’t know when he would. He was only able to start to grieve when my uncle was returned to us and finally laid to rest in our family plot.”

Selfless gift

Undertakers play an integral part in the end-of-life ritual and bear witness to grieving families during one of the most vulnerable times in their lives.

Donal Forde, Forde’s Funeral Homes Ltd (fordesfuneralhome.ie), says that donating one’s body to medical science is a selfless gift.

“This is a decision a person makes before they die,” Forde says. “It is evident to us, from working with these bereaved families that, while they are grieving the loss of their loved one, they have the comfort and consolation of knowing they were able to support and fulfill these final wishes, which will help future generations of medical education and research.”

This statement rings true for Bill Phelan of Dun Laoghaire, Dublin.

Although he cannot be sure what prompted his mother, Teresa, ‘Tesa’, to become a full-body donor, he knew that it had been her wish “for many, many years”.

In college, I was very friendly with some guys who were doing medicine and she would have heard in conversation how important this was.

Phelan is matter of fact about how he carried out Tesa’s instructions: “I contacted the funeral home the day after she passed, and said ‘What do I do? She wants to go to UCD’.”

The undertaker took it from there: “He talked to them in UCD and he brought her in there. They kept her for about a year and a half and then they wrote to me and offered to have her interred in Glasnevin or they would return her to me.”

It was his wish to have Tesa returned to him and again Phelan contacted the funeral home. Tesa was brought home “and we buried her in Shanganah”.

He believes in fulfilling the wishes of the deceased: “It’s not about those who are left behind, as far as I’m concerned. It’s about respecting the wishes and honouring the person that has passed. You have to have a selfless regard for whatever that person wishes. Respect them. And know that he or she is doing good. And that’s worth a lot to know that.”

All of our family were very proud he gave up his body

When Kate Bradbury’s father, Jimmy, died, it fell to her to “ring all the universities and see who was going to take his body”.

He ended up getting taken in by Trinity University and we all laughed, because he was the first Bradbury to go to Trinity.

Kate speaks of how, in the three years her father was with the medical department, five ceremonies were held for him. One of the first took place in her dad’s hometown of Athy, County Kildare: “That was really beautiful, in terms of celebrating him.”

For Kate, those services felt like her father was allowed to be there with the family in spirit: “I loved that personally. I felt it really helped me keep him alive in memory, because, you know, he was Jimmy.”

Kate recalls a special moment when the family were informed by Trinity that her father’s body was going to be used as a cadaver in the university. “They would call his body ‘Jimmy’ and the students would know him as Jimmy and that he had five children. And I really loved that. I was really proud of him. Everybody was very proud. Aunts and uncles, all of our family were very proud he gave up his body.”

An invaluable part of anatomy study for students

Podiatrist Fiona Dooley, from Kildare town, County Kildare began her career by studying at University College London in the 1990s. She and her peers trained using a full-body donor.

“I remember being quite nervous, before the first session, about how I would feel when I saw the cadaver and the realisation that someone had donated their body to science for the benefit of our studies. I also remember how massive the dissection room was and how overpowering the smell of formaldehyde was, at first.”

It all felt quite surreal to her initially and she has strong memories of being constantly reminded to treat the body with dignity and respect: “The head and neck were kept covered at all times, which made it feel a little less personal.”

Reflecting on her experiences in the university’s dissection room, Fiona acknowledges it was an invaluable part of anatomy study: “Especially as we did it before the arrival of advanced 3D imaging and computer-based programmes available today.”

People wishing to become a full body donor should contact the medical college nearest to them: