Death’s gifts

University College Cork has decided to honour its silent partners in medical education — those considerate and generous people who decree that their body might be used for research or educational purposes after their death.

This idea may not appeal to everyone but those who recognise the benefits such a great gift can bestow on those who come after them deserve to be honoured and recognised.

Just as tens of thousands of organ donors have changed so many lives for the better by recognising that their own death, no matter how tragic or premature, might mean a second chance for someone else.

In so many ways the decision to become an organ donor or to leave your body to a medical school stands among the great human declarations of our absolute dependence on each other.