Death while full timing

[wranglermatt]

A year ago I started full timing with a partner 30 years my junior.  Prior to that I had willed my body to the University of Washington's school of medicine. Had I died in Washington one call would have resulted in my body being picked up and my cremated remains FedExed to my partner.  Easy, simple and cost free.  Now that I will be all over the map, that plan won't work.  When my time comes I want the same to happen:  one phone call for a low or no cost solution.  Has anyone personal experience with this issue or know of someone who has?  I will appreciate any feedback.   

[Kirk W]

Free?  None that I am aware of. But it will be interesting to hear what others come up with. It might be that one of the medical transportation insurance policies would return your remains to your preferred state. I know a lady who recently transported her husband's remains from TX to WI for burial to save money. She picked up the embalmed body from the funeral home and transported in her personal van in a body bag. But that wouldn't work for science as they don't want it embalmed. 

[mptjelgin]

A family member of mine is registered with "Science Care", which seems to provide the service that you are seeking. 

http://www.sciencecare.com

 

[Yarome]

Speaking of science care specifically, I have known 2 others that were registered prior to their passing and am registered myself. As far as I am aware they are the only nationwide service of their kind. One thing to be aware of is that you may or may NOT be accepted as a donation at the time of your passing in the event that there may or may NOT be any programs registered with science care to accept you at that particular time. Neither of the two I am personally aware of were accepted so it is also important to have a plan "B" in place.

It obviously works out well for many though. It's not a gaurantee, but it's certainly a nice option if for no other reason than to not to have to have your loved ones deal with your arrangments and transportation over state lines.

I would be surprised if the Univ. of Washington didn't have a similar caveat on acceptance at the time of death.

 

[Tex Bigfoot]

Talk to the University of Washington's school of medicine and see if they have a recipication agreement with other Med. schools

[mptjelgin]

35 minutes ago, Yarome said:

One thing to be aware of is that you may or may NOT be accepted as a donation at the time of your passing in the event that there may or may NOT be any programs registered with science care to accept you at that particular time. Neither of the two I am personally aware of were accepted so it is also important to have a plan "B" in place.

 

Thank you for that important information. My family member signed up specifically because of their wish to not burden others with this responsibility. I am certain that they are not aware of this caveat. 

[Yarome]

2 minutes ago, mptjelgin said:

Thank you for that important information. My family member signed up specifically because of their wish to not burden others with this responsibility. I am certain that they are not aware of this caveat. 

Also to be aware of... they will conduct a screening interview at the time of your loved ones passing. The questions are "quite" personal so it's important that their listed contact person is fully aware of their social and health history. Ie., sexually contracted history, abortions, substance abuse, mental health history, etc.

If your loved one is in hospice a pre-screening can be done with the individual which is generally preferable to having a loved one having to answer, or be unprepared to answer, such questions that may or may not disqualify their donation to a particular program that may otherwise be available to accept them.

[sandsys]

20 hours ago, mptjelgin said:

A family member of mine is registered with "Science Care", which seems to provide the service that you are seeking. 

http://www.sciencecare.com

 

My mother's remains went to ScienceCare in Phoenix but I'm not sure they transport long distances. Plus, each of us three of us kids had to sign a release for this to happen. I was happy to sign since I think Mom would approve of continuing to contribute as she did so all her life. I suspect she was accepted because there are so many dementia studies right now. I'm guessing my brothers answered those questions mentioned above as they also live in Phoenix while I'm in Minnesota.

Linda Sand

[RV_]

Wrangler,

Good topic, thanks all for the insights. We are burn and scatter types both of us. For us we have discussed this with our kids and hope to only impact them by our absence. It has been a while since we looked at this topic and had never heard of this program. We are not in a state that is listed but next year hope to be. We are both donors on our driver licenses should we get in an accident wherever. We just discussed making new Living wills and last wills, which we are going to have done at the Barksdale AFB base legal office here, and then in Colorado at Peterson or the Academy legal office we'll have them reviewed for any state differences needed. Louisiana law is based on Napoleonic French Law, not English common law like the rest of the US. So may need revisions next year.

[eddie1261]

I use these people.

http://www.medcure.org/

[Yarome]

8 minutes ago, RV_ said:

We are not in a state that is listed....

Actually, they will arrange transportation of your remains from any state but three due to those particular states local laws. It's been awhile and I didn't pay particular attention because they were states that I knew I likely would never visit again. I wanna say Arkansas was one (?). I'll see if I can find it in my paperwork.

[Yarome]

Duh... that was easy.  AR, NJ and MN

[Yarome]

37 minutes ago, eddie1261 said:

I use these people.

http://www.medcure.org/

I forgot about them. I did look in to them but decided to go with science care. A lot was the same but one of their exclusion states was North Dakota, which I "may" visit, and their policies seemed more geared toward favoring the "state" than individual or family preferences.

The kicker for me with med cure (unless they have changed their policies) was that in the event you are also an organ donor, that takes precedence over a whole body donation. Their rationale being that the immediate opportunity to save a life trumps your whole body donation. Of course... in the event an organ donation is desired from you it negates your acceptance into a whole body program so you'll have to rely on your "plan B".

Science care was more geared toward your and your families wishes and the ability to choose order of priority of organ vs. whole body donation.

I "get" med cure's reasoning. A lot of folks probably agree. I guess I look at it as the best opportunity for my family not to have to deal with any of the associated burdens and the opportunity to contribute to medical research that may, eventually, lead to saving lives or quality of lives of countless others. For me alone, that trumps saving a single life "now". 

[Dutch_12078]

My wife and I are registered with Science Care, MEDCURE, and the Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee, in that order of preference. As said, Science Care and MEDCURE will handle all transportation arrangements and costs from anywhere in the US except the three states mentioned for each. The UT program will only arrange transportation within 100 miles of Knoxville, leaving family members to handle that otherwise. Our two daughters are also registered with Science Care and MEDCURE.

[RV_]

Thanks Dutch and Yarome! 

[Twotoes]

Not sure but my parents who are in their late 80s purchased a pre paid burial service. Not sure of the name. My Dad said they will pick up the body and make creamation arrangements wherever the body happens to be. Not sure if they will make donations of body parts. It may be worth looking into businesses in this field and see what’s out there. Just a thought. 

[noteven]

I have insurance up to $60k cost to    repatriate my remains for burial from wherever they are being held hostage. 

[LindaH]

3 hours ago, Twotoes said:

Not sure but my parents who are in their late 80s purchased a pre paid burial service. Not sure of the name. My Dad said they will pick up the body and make creamation arrangements wherever the body happens to be. Not sure if they will make donations of body parts. It may be worth looking into businesses in this field and see what’s out there. Just a thought. 

Maybe Neptune?  We've signed up for that and, if you pay extra for the Travel Protection Plan, they'll pick up your body where ever it is, even internationally.  We didn't inquire about donations of body parts, so I don't know whether or not they'll do that.

[packnrat]

one would think there was some kind of communication network between hospitals about harvesting body parts and getting them to new owners.

 i have the "dot" on my dl. at least in death i might help someone.

[Dutch_12078]

2 hours ago, packnrat said:

one would think there was some kind of communication network between hospitals about harvesting body parts and getting them to new owners.

 i have the "dot" on my dl. at least in death i might help someone.

You mean something like the "Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network" run by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services?

https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/

[packnrat]

ok them.

guess they only deal with there little world not others involving a body?

i only know my body is of no use to me after i am dead. might as well let somebody get parts if it could inprove there life a bit.

after all i have a donated body part in my neck now.

my aunt freada got a set of lungs. but all the medical drugs killed her.

but gave her more years and she could  breath again.

[Dutch_12078]

At the time of death, most organs have a limited time span where they remain viable for transplantation. Whole body donations are most commonly used for training/teaching purposes or tissue extractions that are not as time dependent. If you pass away in a hospital and have indicated that you wish to donate any viable organs, and if the hospital has no immediate need within its own walls, the organs are made available to the national donor network for matching with other hospital's needs. Again, that's a very time limited option though, and given the complexities of matching organs to recipients, not all available viable organs will be used. If you pass away elsewhere, there's a good chance few, if any, of your organs will be transplant candidates due to harvesting time limitations.

[Yarome]

On 1/1/2018 at 2:21 PM, Dutch_12078 said:

My wife and I are registered with Science Care, MEDCURE, and the Forensic Anthropology Center ...

That makes perfect sense... as often the simplest solutions do. Dunno why I didn't think of that before. That would drop the non-covered states from 3 to 2 and might possibly increase the odds of your donation being accepted.

Smart!

[Dutch_12078]

That was my thinking, Yarome...

[Blues]

On 1/2/2018 at 7:09 AM, LindaH said:

Maybe Neptune?  We've signed up for that and, if you pay extra for the Travel Protection Plan, they'll pick up your body where ever it is, even internationally.  We didn't inquire about donations of body parts, so I don't know whether or not they'll do that.

How much does Neptune cost?  There's no price information on their website whatsoever.  And how much extra is the Travel Protection Plan?  I'm okay with ballpark figures.  I'm just trying to see if it's worth it to sign up in advance with them as opposed to just contacting a local funeral home wherever I am if I need a dead body disposed of.

Everyone should have a plan B in case body donation doesn't work out, and the cheapest will be "direct cremation."  That is just disposition of the body without embalming, viewing, visitation, etc.  (You can also have "immediate burial," but that wouldn't be applicable to fulltimers traveling around.)

Funeral homes have to have a general price list available (it doesn't have have to be on the internet, although some are), and one of the items will be direct cremation, with prices dependent upon whether you provide your own container or buy one from them (from a cardboard-like container to a wood box all the way up to real caskets).  The prices vary dramatically from funeral home to funeral home, and direct cremation doesn't include any sort of ceremony or viewing, so there may not be a huge reason to use the "nicest" (and probably most expensive) funeral home in town. 

Most direct cremations are the same, so calling a funeral home and asking the price for a direct cremation will be pretty straightforward for purposes of comparison shopping.