Body Donation at UNC

The donation of one’s body is a precious gift. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) has an ongoing need for whole body donations to support our medical, dental and other health professional training programs. Your gift will ensure the training in human anatomy of our State’s future health care leaders. This site will provide the necessary information so that you can make an informed decision regarding body donation.

Any person 18 years of age or older may be a donor.

The family will be responsible for paying for transportation to our facility. The UNC-CH School of Medicine will pay for embalming, cremation, and return of their cremated remains to the next-of-kin.

How to Donate Your Body to the UNC School of Medicine

Thank you for considering whole-body donation. Your willingness to make this extraordinary gift demonstrates a profound generosity and a deep commitment to advancing medical education, research, and the future of healthcare.

Your written consent is a crucial first step in the donation process. Linked below are the forms needed to provide us with your consent for donation. These forms must be completed and returned to the Anatomical Gifts Program for review, approval, and final registration of your consent:

• Forms for Bequeathing Body by Individual or Health Care Power of Attorney*- Before A Potential Donor’s Death.
• Forms for Bequeathing Body by Next-of-Kin or Health Care Power of Attorney – After A Donor’s Death.
  • This form should only be completed after the Anatomical Gifts Program has verbally approved that the deceased meets the eligibility criteria for the program. If the paperwork is filled out in advance, the program will ask for it to be completed again.

* If a gift is made through a Health Care Power of Attorney or Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care, please include a copy of the documentation with the donation forms.

Please make a copy of the completed documents for your files and send the original to:

UNC School of Medicine Anatomical Gifts Program
Roper Hall Campus Box 7520
150 Medical Drive
Chapel Hill, NC 27599

Forms may also be faxed to 919-843-0317 or emailed to anatomicalgifts@med.unc.edu

All donation forms will go through a review process to ensure they are completed in full. If complete, our team will mail a confirmation letter, informing you that your consent is now on record with the Anatomical Gifts Program.

Please note that it may take up to one month from the date the forms were mailed to the program until you receive your confirmation letter. If you have concerns that your paperwork may not have reached our office, please contact our team by calling 919-966-1134.

Office hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. If you can’t reach us, please leave a detailed message, and one of our team members will return your call as soon as possible.

To help ensure your wishes are honored, we strongly encourage you to discuss your decision with your next of kin or legal representative, who will be responsible for carrying out your final arrangements. In addition, the Anatomical Gift Program reserves the right to decline a donation if eligibility criteria are not met at the time of death. For this reason, we recommend discussing alternative plans for final disposition with your next of kin in advance. Doing so can help ensure your wishes are respected and lessen the burden on your loved ones during a difficult time.

We do not accept out-of-state donations. We suggest that you contact a medical school in the State where the death occurred regarding donation.

WHAT TO DO IN THE EVENT OF A POTENTIAL DONOR’S DEATH

If death occurs during regular business hours of 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday.

1. A representative should call our office at 919-966-1134. This can be the next of kin, a nurse, another provider, or an individual.
2. Our team will ask the caller several medical and physical questions to determine if the potential donor qualifies for our program*. If the potential donor meets our program’s needs, we will provide the caller with oral authorization.

*Not all potential donors will meet our criteria at death. If this happens, please call a local funeral or crematory provider or another North Carolina body donation program to assist with the final disposition of the deceased.

3. If the deceased is a candidate, the donor’s representative should contact a local funeral or transport service near the donor that will transfer them from the place of death to our facility. Please inform the provider that the deceased is an anatomical gift donor for the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. This will ensure they know where they are going and will call us to coordinate a convenient transfer time for everyone**.

* If death notification to the Anatomical Gifts Program occurs during regular business hours but the physical transfer of the donor cannot be completed by 4:30 pm Monday through Thursday, or 2:30 pm on Friday, the donor should be transferred to the selected provider’s location and stored in refrigeration. The donor will then be transferred to UNC on the next business day after confirming that the deceased’s body still meets the eligibility criteria.

4. Once a donor is in our care, a team member will inform the next of kin or legal representative that they have arrived safely and may remain with us for up to two years.

WHAT TO DO IN THE EVENT OF A POTENTIAL DONOR’S DEATH

If death occurs after regular business hours, on weekends, or on holidays.

1. A representative should call our office at 919-966-1134 to inform UNC of the death and follow the automated message. Please leave the name of the deceased, the date of birth, the location of the deceased, and if needed, the funeral provider assisting the family. In addition, the caller should also leave their name and telephone number.
2. If the death occurs in the home or a nursing or hospice facility, a representative should call a funeral or transport provider local to the potential donor. This provider will transfer the deceased to their facility and place them in cold storage until our team can be contacted.
3. If the death occurs at a hospital, the body can remain in the morgue until our team can be reached on the next business day to determine eligibility. *
4. On the next business day, a team member will call the next of kin to determine whether the potential donor is a candidate for our program. If the deceased meets our program’s needs, we will give the caller oral authorization. We may also call the medical provider and the funeral home to confirm that the donor meets our needs.
   1. *Not all potential donors will meet our criteria at death. If this happens, please call a local funeral or crematory provider or another North Carolina body donation program to assist with the final disposition of the deceased.
5. If the deceased is a candidate and at a funeral or transport provider’s location, our team will contact them to arrange a convenient time for the provider to transfer the donor into our care.
6. If the deceased is a candidate and at a hospital morgue, please call a funeral or transport provider local to the deceased that will transfer the donor to our facility during regular office hours.
7. Once the donor is in our care, a team member will inform you that they have arrived safely and may remain with us for up to two years.

The UNC School of Medicine Anatomical Gifts Program reserves the right to decline a potential whole-body donation at its sole discretion. This decision may be based on various reasons, such as specific health issues of the deceased, the physical condition of the deceased’s body at the time of death, or, in rare cases, if our current educational and research needs have already been met. Therefore, it is important to have alternative arrangements in mind.

If a deceased individual has any of the following at the time of death, the donation will be declined:

• Contagious diseases at the time of death.
  • Hepatitis A or B, HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Active Tuberculosis or Whooping Cough, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob’s disease
• Untreated infections from MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus), or VRSA (Vancomycin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus)
• Death from septic shock
• Autopsy examination that has disrupted the body system
• Death by suicide or other suspicious death
• Severe physical trauma to the body
• Death that occurs outside of North Carolina
• Significant decomposition
• Deaths reported after 48 hours

If a potential donor has any of the following at the time of death, the Anatomical Gifts Program may refuse the donation:

• Weight: females over 180 lbs or under 100 lbs and males over 200 lbs and under 120 lbs. We do take height, weight, and physical condition into account
• Immobility or physical impairments
• Jaundice
• Edema
• Ascites
• Pressure sores
• Recent extensive surgery that has not healed
• Ostomy bags
• Broken bones due to a recent fall
• Advanced muscular atrophy
• Severe contractures of the body

Families are invited to our annual memorial service conducted by the students to honor our donors. Students along with the faculty are given a chance to express their appreciation and gratitude to the donor families.

Students and faculty members never lose sight of the fact that each donor wanted to make a contribution to medical education. Each donor is treated with dignity and respect. The laboratories are restricted and only accessible to medical, dental, and allied health students, faculty, and staff associated with the anatomy program.

After the students have completed their studies (one to two years after the body has been received), the bodies are individually cremated. The cremated remains are then mailed to the next-of-kin via registered mail.