WEBVTT - How to Donate Your Body to Science 0:00:00.960 --> 0:00:04.160 Welcome to you stuff you should know from house stuff 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:12.680 Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:16.440 Josh Clark. There's Charles to Chuck Bryant, and there's Jerry. 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:21.080 So it's stuff you should know what's going. It's going, Okay, 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:25.119 I'm like a little congested. Oh yeah, yeah, I'm not sick. 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:28.280 I just congested you every mote when you're sick anyway, 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:31.240 so who would know I'm not though. Look, I've got 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:33.880 like tons of energy. Look well, I had that weird 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:37.199 cough for three weeks when I got back from Oklahoma. 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:39.080 It was very weird, and it wasn't like I was 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:40.479 never sick. It was just I think it was a 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:44.080 post nasal drip. Oh really, maybe from allergies or something. 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:46.159 I don't know. Maybe it's weird. I just couldn't kick it. 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:52.600 But I've kicked it. That's great, I can tell. Yeah. Uh, well, 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:55.160 I hope you feel better even though you're not sick. Thanks. Man. 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:59.880 I'm sure I'm not sick because if you were sick, 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.560 you could possibly die and don't ate your body to science. 0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:07.600 It's definitely true. I could, and I may I probably will. Yeah. 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:10.920 When we did the organ donation podcast. Uh. Quite a 0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:14.400 number of years ago this came up, and I think 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:16.480 we may have even said, let's do one on donating 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:19.520 your whole body, and here it is, years later, promised. 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:21.759 I can tell you that you me most decidedly wants 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:23.800 to donate your body to science. Yeah. I think I 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:26.160 do too. Yeah, it's it seems like a pretty great 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:30.559 thing to do, agreed. Um, especially if by the time 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:34.560 we all kick the bucket. Um, they have a regulatory 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:38.800 body overseeing this. It might be nice. It would be nice. 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:41.360 It makes me feel a little better. Yeah. Yeah, Well 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:43.720 they do point out the article like the thought of 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:46.560 some people are just turned off by the thought of 0:01:46.640 --> 0:01:50.480 your body being cut up. Um, I don't care. No, 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:54.360 I think that that is the first mental hurdle that 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:57.440 you have to go past to say I think I 0:01:57.440 --> 0:01:59.880 will donate my body to side. People are going to 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:05.000 be pouring over every part of your body naked while 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:09.960 you're dead on a table. And that's before they cut 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:13.519 you open, pull everything out, cut your hand off, your feet, 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:16.600 your head, all that stuff. Yeah, I think I would. Uh. 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:18.440 I wonder if you can have a stipulation like to 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:21.080 be covered and like have my privates covered. I have 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:25.160 American stipulation. That's not it. You're like, I have a 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:31.760 sock clause. Um. The other hurdle is uh, and I 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:34.000 never really thought about this was people just thinking about 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:38.920 like jerk medical students, like joking around and stuff. So 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:43.600 apparently that would be an enormous at least like doing 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:46.160 it for the class. It's an ethical breach. From what 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:50.320 I understand, it would be a very it's that's very taboo. 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:54.160 It has taken very seriously. It's a very poor taste. Yeah. Um. 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:56.720 And so if you say donate your body to a 0:02:56.880 --> 0:03:00.120 university and ends up being used for anatomical study, you 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:06.280 among m gross anatomy students. Right, Um, Probably they're going 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:09.040 to know your name, they're going to know how you died. 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:12.160 They're going to refer to you and talk to you 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:14.840 by your name, so you will be a person to them. 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:16.760 You're not just a cadaver. You know, there's a lump 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:18.400 of meat. It sounds like they go out of their 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:21.799 way to be very respectful of the what you've done 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:25.080 for them. Right. They're they're taught to the the the 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:29.320 instructors set that example. Um. I read about one I 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:31.720 can't remember the university. It's sound that. There's a link 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:35.320 to it on the podcast page where um the instructor 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:39.160 hold they they make like a very big point of 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:42.160 pointing out that this is a gift. This person gave 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:46.320 you medical students, the gift of their cadaver so that 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:49.440 you can become a good doctor and save other people's 0:03:49.480 --> 0:03:52.200 lives to make money. This is a huge gift and 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:56.240 it's to be treated with respect. And also frequently most 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:58.880 of these programs hold some sort of annual ceremony to 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:02.000 kind of thank all of the people who um, just 0:04:02.040 --> 0:04:09.000 to honor them exactly the dead man. Yeah, it's pretty 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:13.080 great that people get loaded. I can't find a date, 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:19.640 no problem. So um, once you get past that hurdle, 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:22.479 the the idea of being poked and prodded and looked 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.839 at by medical students. Uh, there is another hurdle that 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:30.520 people face two uh religious types at least that you're 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:34.479 some religions, um prohibit this kind of thing. Who do 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:39.480 you know? Well Islam outright says no, you can't do that, 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:41.279 like the body is not to be cut up or 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:44.160 dissected or messed with after death. But they just said 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:46.600 organ donations okay, And I didn't see that that was 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.280 really under Sharia law. It doesn't look like you're supposed 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:53.039 to do anything to the dead body except take care 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:56.479 of it. Okay. I think that the stuff varies, though 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.800 I guess the thing I what I ran across said like, no, 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:03.280 you can't. You definitely can't donate your body. It didn't 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:06.320 say anything about donating organs, but from the context, it 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:08.440 would seem like organ donation of be a no no 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:13.159 as well. Jehovah's witness very famously do not accept or 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:17.680 donate blood, transfusions, or any parts of blood um. They 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:21.640 consider that blood is um. Basically, life is a gift 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:23.440 from God and you are not to be messing with 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:26.279 it with blood. But if all of the blood is 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:28.520 removed from the body to prevent it from being used 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:32.960 for transfusions, that body is a okay to go to 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:36.800 be donated to um, say like a medical school. As 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:40.400 far as Jehovah's Witnesses are concerned, most other religions are 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:42.720 like do it? Why would you not? Yeah? And I 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:45.640 love how this article says Baptist. They break it down 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:47.719 to like, I think the author may have been Baptist. 0:05:47.960 --> 0:05:50.880 Do you think that's why I took because it's weirdest 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:52.719 not to say Christianity as a whole and to break 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:56.719 it down into denominations because he said Baptist and Catholic, 0:05:56.800 --> 0:06:00.440 to say it's an act of charity. I never heard that. 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:04.200 I grew up Baptist. Oh maybe you missed that Sunday. 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:08.440 I didn't miss any Sundays, my friend didn't. Nope. Uh, 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:11.880 there aren't any like hard and fast statistics. Because body 0:06:11.920 --> 0:06:16.159 donations can be donated to medical universities and colleges, to 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:20.560 the US government, wait, private firms who cares what it's 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:26.600 donated to. Surely there is a central authority that all 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:31.919 couldaver donations go through. Isn't that nuts? I don't think so. 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:36.800 It's totally nuts. Man. Think about it. Organ donation heavily regulated, 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:41.400 lots of oversight. No money is exchanging hands, or if 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:45.360 it is, it's like just the bare minimum. There's no 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:50.000 free market associated with this whatsoever. And everything goes through 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:54.039 the central authority. There's, at least on paper, there's a 0:06:54.080 --> 0:06:57.800 group that knows everything that's going on, every organ that's 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:01.599 being transplanted. Right, makes total sense. But when you talk 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:06.040 about like bones, tendons, eyeballs, I don't know if those 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:09.840 are organ donation or not, but whole bodies. This stuff 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:14.240 is it's it's wrong to say that there is no 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:17.600 regulation or oversight. There is. It's just not anywhere near 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:20.480 as strict as organ donation. It's not taking nearly as 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:22.880 seriously well, I have a real problem with that. I 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:24.400 don't have a problem with that. I think the reason 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:28.440 why is because organ donations are being used to put 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:32.560 into other people. You're not taking a whole body donated 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:38.240 to science. It's only for purposes, that is what were 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:41.280 they They actually use parts on other people, like what 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:46.520 like bones, ligaments, tendons, but not like any sort of 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:51.960 tissue or organ like from a cadaver. No, not the 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:56.080 organ itself. But they are taking like like say a 0:07:56.160 --> 0:07:59.840 bone from you, the dead guy who who donated your body. 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.240 It might end up in a living recipient. And you 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:06.000 may be like, totally fine with that. That's cool, right, 0:08:06.080 --> 0:08:08.160 I want to help somebody. I didn't think i'd be 0:08:08.200 --> 0:08:11.240 able to donate my organs, which is something we'll talk 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:13.840 about later. So that's great, that's helping him out. My 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:18.120 problem with it is is somebody may have profited from 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:22.360 your donation, and that's where my problem comes from. I 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.560 think donating your body to science or free reuse in 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:27.640 some way, shape or formance, going to help other people 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:31.160 is wonderful. But the fact that there is a and 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:36.480 there is not enough oversight or regulation, and that there 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:40.000 is a free market that's associated with this because it's 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:44.120 illegal to sell a body part, but you could say 0:08:44.240 --> 0:08:48.160 charge of handling fee, and they frequently do. It leads 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:53.319 to this free market embody parts. That but that starts 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:56.880 out as a an act of love, a gift, a donation, 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:00.280 and then somewhere down the line somebody can profit from that. 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:03.800 That's horrible. But there is handling, Like transporting a body 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:09.520 isn't free. There isn't. It's true. So this, this oversight 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:13.160 committee or this this government agency should say, here's how 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:15.760 much it costs. We know how much an airline charges. 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:17.680 We have what we know how much it costs to 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:19.600 shipt a body. We know how much it get costs 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:22.720 to take a piece of bone a femur from somebody 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:26.439 and then transport it somewhere else. Right, here's how much 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:30.280 for a bone. I totally disagree with that. I mean, 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:33.120 let's think about organ procurement and like nobody's like there's 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:36.800 a free gray market that's growing up. Over organ procurement, 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:39.400 that's not what happens in this country. But when it 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:42.960 comes to tissue and stuff like that, it's a problem. 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:45.120 And it also here's the other thing, Chuck, It doesn't 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:48.000 just affect donors. It affects people who haven't donated their 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:52.200 body because year after year after year, some news article 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:56.000 comes up where some crematorium has been stealing body parts 0:09:56.480 --> 0:10:00.480 and selling them in this gray market. SAME's true for organs, 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:03.760 though there's a black market. Yeah, it is true. I 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:06.200 just have the impression that is it's much harder to 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:10.320 do with organ procurement than it is with tissue, and 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:14.000 and tissue, like a whole body donation is considered tissue. 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:18.640 So sorry about that's right. So, I think the sentence 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:21.319 I was about to finish was there are somewhere around 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:26.440 twenty whole bodies donated per year. Uh they think in 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:29.080 the US, right, Yeah, But that's, like I said, uh, 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:31.760 not an exact number, because like you said, there is 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:37.000 no US government body watching all this, and so sounds 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:40.880 like a pretty decent amount, right. Apparently, No, Apparently there 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:44.920 is a real um dearth of of cadavers. Yeah, I 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:46.920 think a lot of people don't realize you can really 0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:50.280 donate your whole body, and probably the idea seems a 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:53.840 little daunting or weird or whatever. So my hope is 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:57.760 that just from us talking about this, more people will 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:00.960 come to see it as something that's totally doable, because 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:04.920 from what I ran across, it really is totally doable. 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:08.320 Totally doable. All right, Well, we'll take a break here 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:10.080 and when we come back, we will talk a little 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:29.000 bit about the history of whole body donation. Stop. All right, 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:32.319 let's go back to the nineteenth century, early nineteenth century 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:39.600 and uh and Briton, they're using animals a lot of times, 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:46.160 or criminals, um, dead bodies of people that have been hanged. Well, yeah, 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:48.120 that was the only way that you could get your 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:50.320 hands on a cadaver as a medical school was if 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:53.240 it was the body of an executed criminal. That's right, 0:11:53.360 --> 0:11:55.840 that was it. Or it's a pig or you know 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:59.079 some other animals. Right in a pig. Great, it's very 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:01.640 satisfying to cut into a pig with the scalpel everybody 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:03.960 knows they had. But you're not gonna learn as much 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:06.760 about the human body from cutting open a pig as 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:10.280 you would from cutting open a human body. So they 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:14.960 decided they needed more bodies because the UMU capital crimes 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:19.680 had had dropped, and so grave robbing became a common practice. 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:23.360 And uh, it still is a common practice. I don't 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:25.960 know about common, but it still happens in some parts 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:31.120 of the world. Back then they were called resurrectionists and UM, 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:35.880 a lot of times it was slaves that were being 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:39.720 having their graves robbed. Yeah, did you read the Smithsonian 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:41.439 article I sent you. Yeah, I read that one. And 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:44.600 then there's a documentary out to uh made by Dr 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:50.960 Shaun Utsey of h Virginia Commonwealth University go Rams called 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:54.920 Until the Well Runs Dry Medicine and the Exploitation of 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:58.600 Black bodies. And in it he talks about, um, someone 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:01.840 named Chris Baker who was a famous resurrectionists in Virginia 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:06.880 who would rob slave grades basically, and and it was robbing, 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:10.480 but they still there wasn't a crime because slaves had 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:13.720 no rights even after death right. And apparently they would 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:17.120 employ slaves to do this because slaves couldn't be arrested 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:22.280 for grave robbing slaves graves somehow, at least in Georgia. Well, yeah, 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:25.200 because you sent in this other case of what was 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:29.000 his name, Grandison Harris. Yeah, he was Medical College of 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:33.120 Georgia and Augusta. Then they discovered in nineteen nine and 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:34.719 one of the old buildings of do you remember that 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:37.480 a bunch of bones? Remember when that happened. I was 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.840 in high school, dude, didn't watch the news. Were you 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:44.079 like a tenth grader watching that was like eighth and 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:46.800 ninth grade. I just remember. I was like what because 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:49.360 when they found all these bones, they were like, what 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:52.240 is going on here? And then they figured out, oh, 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:56.600 these were old anatomical specimens that had been robbed from 0:13:56.640 --> 0:14:00.720 the grave. Apparently he was employed because he was huge 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:04.240 and strong and he could rob a grave by himself, 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:08.040 which usually needed a few people to rob a grave. 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:12.559 But he was an efficient gray rubbing machine and made 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:15.600 a lot of money and educated himself and rose up 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:19.040 somewhat in white society, but was not really accepted by 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:23.359 either whites or blacks. Yeah he he Uh. The Smithsonian 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:27.080 article puts that he occupied a liminal place between black 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:29.680 and white society. He was shunned by everybody, but also 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:34.480 grudgingly respected and feared. Ye need article. Yeah, it was 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:38.080 pretty cool. Um. And this Chris Baker apparently Dr Shaun 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:43.040 Utsy says along with things like the Tuskegee experiments. He 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:46.680 says that he thinks that medical college is accepting grave 0:14:46.840 --> 0:14:50.400 robbed bodies is of slaves is one of the reasons. 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:53.720 He says that, uh, some African Americans today have like 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:58.800 lingering suspicions about doctors in general. Yeah, makes sense, um, 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:00.680 And he says that that's a big reason that he 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:04.760 feels like Black people die more of preventable disease because 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:09.040 of a fear of doctors. Yeah, or maybe a mistrustum 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:12.280 of doctors after things like the t Skee experiments and 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:15.840 grave robbing of god slave graves. So it sort of 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:19.800 makes sense. So pretty interesting. He's the professor of UM, 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:23.960 I think the head of African American studies at UVA 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:28.920 or not uv A but Virginia COMMONWEALTHCU. So grave robbing 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:33.640 became very very widespread, not just in the UK, but 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:36.440 also an American I think you said, around the world, right, Yeah, 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:38.520 and just deals being like if you ever watched the Nick, 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:42.080 like the police make deals with the hospital, Like they 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:43.880 find a body, they get little money on the side. 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:46.280 It was just basically, how how can we get our 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:51.200 hands on a body? Exactly, and finally people figured out like, oh, well, this, 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:56.960 this prohibition on dissecting human bodies is leading to grave robbing, which, 0:15:57.440 --> 0:16:00.240 now that we compared the two side by side, grave 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:04.520 robbing is way worse. So, um, let's just make it 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:08.400 if if somebody wants to donate their body or uh, 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:11.640 we can let that happen, and that's that change happened. 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:13.840 Let's set up a government branch to screw it up. 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:18.320 I'm telling you, man, Yeah, I don't know, man. Just 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:20.680 for me personally, I just don't trust our government to 0:16:20.760 --> 0:16:24.640 handle something as nuanced and delicate as a part of 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:26.360 the end of life industry. I just think it would 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:30.160 be a typical, inefficient, bureaucratic nightmare, and that's the last 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:32.920 thing people need when they're dealing with like the death 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:35.360 of a family member. That's just me. I think the 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:41.440 organ Procurement system network in place now is a sterling 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:44.760 example of what could be done. It's great. Yeah, I 0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:47.160 don't know too much about the financials behind it. Well, 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:50.040 that's the thing, Like I agree with you, it does 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:54.040 cost a certain amount of money to operate, but then 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:59.160 you could have not for profit businesses running these things, right, 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:04.960 So for a not for profit business still creates income, 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:09.080 but that goes into the business that doesn't enrich shareholders 0:17:09.160 --> 0:17:14.240 or anything like that. Right, there's so with for profit companies, 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:16.960 and there are I'm not slamming all for profit companies. 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:21.960 There are for profit Uh body donation companies out there 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:25.080 that are great, right, But I'm just saying that the 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:29.840 fact that that is allowed to me allows this free 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:34.200 market in body parts that I don't think should exist. Uh. 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:37.200 There is not one process because there's not one governing body. 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:40.920 So it depends on who you're dealing with. Um, if 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:43.879 it's a medical school, that's a good option, could be 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:46.080 a government agency, could be a private group like you 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:48.600 were talking about. But what you're gonna start out doing 0:17:48.680 --> 0:17:51.800 is filling out a lot of paperwork. Uh. You need 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:53.840 to make sure your family knows and is on board 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:57.200 and that step be in your will and uh everyone's 0:17:57.240 --> 0:17:59.600 cool with all this. Yeah, because if you go in 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:02.600 the mail clinic website and look how to donate your body, 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:04.560 one of the things they say is if your next 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:07.240 of kin opposes it, we're not going to accept your body. Well, 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:09.399 it's just too much of a headache. Well, plus also 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:11.199 I think they want to like, they don't want this 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:16.040 to be a traumatic experience. They want it. It's supposed 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:18.919 to be a gift. You know. This donation of your 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:21.360 whole body is supposed to be a gift, not supposed 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:24.399 to put your next of kin through hell. And they 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:30.160 don't want a headache. Let's be honest, man. UH, once 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:33.960 you die, you are not guaranteed even if you want 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:36.320 to donate your body, that you can have your body donated. 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:39.000 You need to be in decent shape. There's a lot 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:42.800 of disease and things that they won't accept. HIV one 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:47.880 or two, AIDS related deaths, help B or C symphilist 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:54.679 kidney failure, jaundice, viral infections, bacteria infections, extensive trauma. Yeah, 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:56.719 you can't be severely burned. They want you to be 0:18:56.800 --> 0:18:59.840 like basically a typical human being. You can't be too 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:02.960 of weight. No, that's a that's a big one. Um. 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:06.359 Some places, UH will only accept people up to like 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:11.200 a hundred and seventy undred ninety pounds for practical reasons. Yeah, 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:13.920 embalming adds about a hundred pounds to you and they're 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:15.919 gonna have to move you around if you're in an 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:19.040 anatomy lab for a year. Some attendants are going to 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:21.520 have to move you on and off gurneys and out 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:23.760 in and out of the freezer for a whole year. 0:19:24.400 --> 0:19:26.200 And they don't want to deal with a four hundred 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:28.960 pound couldaver when they can deal with two hundred fifty 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:31.120 pound cadavers. Yeah, they will also want to be able 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:33.720 to find your organs very easily and not have to 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:37.120 wade through lots of tissue. Yes, you know what I'm saying. Yep. 0:19:37.320 --> 0:19:39.760 So if you want to, if you're very serious about 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:42.720 donating your body after death, you want to, that's a 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:48.280 good reason to take care of yourself while you're alive. Also, 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:51.240 and you can help this much less. But if you're emaciated, 0:19:51.400 --> 0:19:55.800 grossly emaciated, UM, you probably are not going to have 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:59.280 your body accepted UM. And this brings up a really 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:03.800 important point. If your body is going to be rejected, 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:08.080 which it very easily can be, UM, you need to 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:12.120 have a plan in place for the disposition of your 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:16.399 body should it come back to your family or more likely, 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:18.320 they're not going to ship it into place. Isn't gonna 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:21.200 just send it back, but they're they're going to call 0:20:21.280 --> 0:20:22.760 the place in the place, is gonna be like, we 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:27.400 can't use you know, your relative, and now you are 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:30.800 your family stuck with your dead body, which is not 0:20:30.840 --> 0:20:33.240 a situation you want to put your family in. Yeah. 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:36.440 I would God, I would hope that most people would 0:20:36.480 --> 0:20:39.240 think like, if this doesn't happen, then we can just creamate. 0:20:39.480 --> 0:20:41.159 Well the thing. They wouldn't be like, what do we 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:45.160 do now? You know it's not like a sitcom. Yeah, 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:47.119 well you could listen to our podcast Things to Do 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:50.400 with the Dead Body? Right. Oh, I'm glad you bring 0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:55.120 that up. Because the Mayo clinic um uses uh alcohol, 0:20:55.320 --> 0:21:00.360 what does the alkaline hydrolysis, the one that turns into goo. Nice, 0:21:00.359 --> 0:21:04.680 that's how they get rid of bodies. Uh, well, one 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:07.600 positive thing. Actually, they'll stick another break here, okay, and 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:09.919 we'll talk a little bit more about pros and cons 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:28.320 of doing this right for this, so, Chuck, there were 0:21:28.359 --> 0:21:31.119 a couple more things like you were you were talking 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:35.040 about the steps to donating your body, right, and they 0:21:35.119 --> 0:21:38.960 might not take you. If they do take you, um, 0:21:39.400 --> 0:21:44.520 it depends on what organization or company that you go with, right, 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:46.760 that's right. One of the great things about a for 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:51.320 profit company is your family. If you're accepted and you 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:56.040 probably will be accepted. They usually have the UM not 0:21:56.160 --> 0:22:00.560 the lowest standards, but the the the most leeway in 0:22:00.600 --> 0:22:06.280 accepting bodies. Can with the free market, you can shop around, okay, UM, 0:22:06.600 --> 0:22:09.040 see see who you feel most comfortable with. They are 0:22:09.119 --> 0:22:12.520 also the ones who are the least likely to UM 0:22:12.680 --> 0:22:16.480 put any costs onto your family, right, so they will 0:22:16.480 --> 0:22:21.440 pay for things like transportation. They will pay for cremation. 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:24.199 They will probably pay for the costs to return the 0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:28.720 cremated remains of you to your family because when they 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:32.520 use your body, there eventually will be UM a cadaver 0:22:32.600 --> 0:22:34.360 there that is no use to them, and then will 0:22:34.440 --> 0:22:37.000 cremate that and send you the remains right UM. And 0:22:37.040 --> 0:22:40.040 they're also usually pretty quick with it because with UM, 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:43.600 with a lot of the for profit companies UM, they 0:22:43.600 --> 0:22:48.160 basically cut you into the various parts and then ship 0:22:48.200 --> 0:22:50.600 those out and then they have the They do this 0:22:50.720 --> 0:22:55.080 fairly quickly UM. And they take that leftover stuff and 0:22:55.080 --> 0:22:57.720 then bring your remains back to your family within a 0:22:57.720 --> 0:23:00.960 couple of weeks. With If you donate your body to 0:23:01.040 --> 0:23:03.760 say like a medical school, the medical school is gonna 0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:07.199 be like, thank you, this is very nice. UM, we 0:23:07.280 --> 0:23:10.960 need you to pay for some stuff, so transporting the body, 0:23:11.160 --> 0:23:13.639 which is why, um, a lot of people will donate 0:23:13.640 --> 0:23:17.280 to like their local medical medical school like Emory. Yeah. 0:23:17.520 --> 0:23:20.000 So like if you live in Atlanta and you donate 0:23:20.040 --> 0:23:22.560 your body to Emory, Emory will probably pay to come 0:23:22.600 --> 0:23:26.639 pick it up. But if you died in Alabama and 0:23:26.800 --> 0:23:30.800 you had plans to um donate your body to Emory, 0:23:31.119 --> 0:23:33.399 your family might want to find a place in Alabama 0:23:33.560 --> 0:23:36.280 because Emory is gonna accept your body, but they're not 0:23:36.320 --> 0:23:38.480 gonna pay to get it to Atlanta. I don't think 0:23:38.480 --> 0:23:44.560 that medical schools in Alabama. Sorry, Alabama so mean and 0:23:45.000 --> 0:23:47.840 like we're in Georgia. It's like right, you know, yeah, 0:23:47.960 --> 0:23:50.119 we're just so high on the hog I know, but 0:23:50.160 --> 0:23:54.040 Georgians are always like, well we're not Mississippi and Alabama 0:23:54.400 --> 0:23:58.160 not funny, not fair. It's a little funny like Alabama. 0:23:58.320 --> 0:23:59.960 So that is that is definitely a pro of a 0:24:00.040 --> 0:24:03.200 for profit companies. Like the costs associated with this donation 0:24:03.240 --> 0:24:07.679