Body donation to science
Verified 08 December 2023 - Legal and Administrative Information Directorate (Prime Minister)
The donation of the body consists of giving away the body at the time of death for medical education and research purposes. It's a personal, voluntary, and rules-based approach.
The gift of the body is the giving of the body at the time of death for teaching and research purposes.
The decision has to be made in his lifetime and consent must be expressed in writing.
Please note
Body donation should not be confused with organ donation which allows a sick person to be transplanted.
Only one adult.
This person must not:
- Be subject to a family empowerment measure for the purpose of representing the person
- Be under guardianship.
The choice to give away one's body is a personal one.
Request for information
Inquiries should be made to the nearest authorized health or training or research institution.
The list of donation centers is available on the Ministry of Higher Education website.
Delivery of a backgrounder
That institution shall provide the applicant with an information document.
Information guide on the approach of donation for medical education and research purposes
It shall inform the applicant that it may request the return of his body or from his ashes to his family or friends after teaching or research activities.
It shall also inform the applicant that he may oppose such restitution.
Please note
This document is also issued by the institution to the referent person designated by the donor, to the person who requests the return of the body or ashes.
Consent in writing
Once this information is provided, the person declares his or her consent by a ddeclaration entirely written, dated and signed. To do so, the person has the cooling-off period.
This consent declaration must be established in accordance with a template. This document is provided by the institution.
This declaration is also signed by the institution accepting the donation.
This institution undertakes to respect the wishes of the donor related to the restitution of the body.
Please note
Consent to the donation must be expressed personally of the donor's lifetime.
In his declaration, the donor is asked to make different choices.
Thus, the donor can:
- Designate a contact person, from among family or close contacts, who will act as the institution’s contact person after death
- Accept or oppose the return of his body or ashes
- Accept or object to the referee, if he or she has designated one, or his or her family or close relatives being invited to participate in the annual remembrance ceremony held annually by the authorized institution in honor of the donors
- Accept or refuse to have one's name and surname read at the remembrance ceremony
- Accept or refuse to have his or her first and last name retained for memorial purposes and included in a register, stele or commemorative plaque.
Please note
Any person who has consented to donate his body may at any time modify his choices concerning, in particular, the designation of a referent person or the return of his body or ashes.
Issuance of a donor card
A donor card is given to the donor by the institution.
The donor undertakes to have it continuously on him.
FYI
In case of loss of card or flight, the donor is invited to approach the host institution, which will issue a new card with the same number free of charge.
In principle, when issuing a donor card, the institution undertakes to receive the body after the death of the donor.
However, the body may be refused in the following cases:
- Absence of the donor card
- Failure to meet the 48 hour maximum time limit for transporting the body
- Death abroad resulting in beer setting
- Death from a contagious disease requiring beer production
- Death due to motor vehicle crash, suicide or any other reason that may pose a forensic problem
- Poor body conservation
Please note
If the institution which issued the donor card is unable to accept the body for any reason, that institution shall without delay submit a transfer request to the institution nearest to or nearest to the place of death of the donor.
At the end of the transfer of the body, responsibility for its preservation shall lie with the person in charge of the body-hosting structure of the receiving establishment.
This donation is free of charge: the institution may not ask the donor to contribute to the costs.
The establishment ensures at its own expense transport of the body to the body's receiving structure.
He carries out funeral operations (burial or cremation of the body) under the same conditions.
The body or ashes are returned to the family if the donor had given the will.
Otherwise, the institution carries out the funeral operations taking into account the wishes expressed by the donor or relatives and the type of activities carried out on the body.
In the absence of any objection from the donor, the institution shall, where its contact details are available, inform the reference person designated by the donor (in the absence of his family and close relatives) of the date on which he intends to carry out the type of funeral operation he has chosen. He shall inform them, depending on the nature of the activity carried out on the body, of the possibility of requesting the return of his body or ashes, or, on the contrary, of the impossibility of such return.
The hotel organizes a donor tribute every year unless the donors wish otherwise. Relatives can participate in this ceremony
Please note
in the absence of referees designated by the donor, relatives may request the return of the body or ashes. If such restitution is possible, it will take place after teaching or research activities.
The donor may change his mind at any time.
He shall send a written request to the establishment which has handed him the card.
This declaration must be accompanied by the donor card or, if it has been lost or destroyed, the card number issued or a copy of the declaration of consent to the donation.
In the event of a change of address, it is essential to inform the person in charge of the body reception structure in order to record the new information.
If the new domicile is outside the scope of the host institution, the head of the host institution shall inform the donor that he can make a declaration to the authorized establishment nearest to his new domicile and transfer his application there.
If that institution agrees to issue a donor card, it will then replace the card issued by the original institution. The school will destroy the card it issued.
General Principles (Article R1261-1), Transport and Reception of the Body (Articles R1261-2 to R1261-4), Funeral Operations (Articles R1261-5 to R1261-10)
Body donation for medical education and research purposes
Destination of ash
Conditions for the closure of the coffin: (Articles R2213-20 and R2213-25 to R2213-27), conditions for the transport of the body (Articles R2213-21 and R2213-22), time limit for burial or cremation (R2213-33 and R2213-35), persons providing burial or cremation (Articles R2213-31 and R2213-34)