Simply contact the Body Donation Program at 513-558-5612. Forms will be sent which should be completed and distributed as indicated. Upon return of one copy to the Body Donation Program, a letter of acknowledgement and a wallet-sized donor information card will be sent to the donor.

Donors must be at least 18 years of age.

No. This type of gift does not have to be written in your will, although it is permissible to do so.

Anyone 18 years of age or older who is not a relative or employed by the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

Yes. The only expense which must be paid by the next-of-kin or the estate of the deceased is for transportation, by either a funeral home or ambulance service, to the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science. We will assume all costs for embalming, storage, cremation and final disposition of the remains of either burial at Spring Grove Cemetery or return of cremains to the family.

Yes. If an autopsy is ordered by a coroner we will still accept the donor. Unfortunately a private autopsy is not allowed because it would compromise the use of the donation.

Yes. Your registration in our program represents a contract and we will uphold our part of the agreement to accept your body. It is only under the most unusual circumstances that a donor’s body would be rejected such as a private autopsy or organ donation. On the other hand, should you elect to withdraw your donation, you may do so.

The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine makes donated bodies available for medical education, the development of medical science, and research for the development of medical products and techniques. This includes making bodies available to outside researchers and other institutions.

At this time we are only accepting pre-registered donors.

If the family chooses to have a private autopsy or donate organs we will not be able to accept the body.

If a donor passes in a hospital with a morgue, the body may be stored there until the next working day. In all other cases, the body is to be transported by funeral director or by an ambulance service to the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science.

The medical facility will still need to notify the University of Cincinnati by calling 513-558-5612 and leaving a voicemail message regarding the donor’s death, date and time, as well as who will be transporting the body. The medical facility or transportation services must also contact the Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science prior to their arrival by calling 513-761-3773.

A memorial service may be held for the deceased with the body not present.

The Body Donation Program does not receive or provide reports regarding studies on anatomical donations.

Upon completion of medical studies, which is usually one to four years after we have received the body, the bodies are individually cremated and one of the two options is followed: First, the ashes can be returned to the family or to a location selected by the family for final interment.

The Body Donation Program will pay for shipping the ashes, but the cost for the interment is the responsibility of the survivors. Second, the remains of donors not returned to the survivors will be interred at Spring Grove Cemetery. The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine has a gravesite which is marked with an appropriate monument.

No. In order to respect the privacy and anonymity requested by some individuals, the names of donors do not appear at the gravesite. However, to honor the individuals who have made this important contribution to medical science, the name of each donor is recorded in a book located in the Henry R. Winkler Center for the History of the Health Professions, located in the College of Medicine.

Spring Grove Cemetery also maintains a record of donors buried at this gravesite.

If death occurs outside the Tri-state area the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine will give the donor’s family contact information for the closest medical school. The family also has the option of making arrangements to have the body sent back to UC.

As previously stated, all transportation costs are paid by the family or the estate of the deceased. If the next-of-kin insists that the body be returned to the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, the survivors must assume the responsibility of transportation costs.

A funeral director in the area where the donor expired should be contacted. The funeral director should then immediately contact the Body Donation Program at 513-558-5612 for specific instructions.