The Anatomical Donations Program is crucial to the medical science community. Our team provides support to donors, including donation guidelines and resources.
Michigan Medicine is profoundly grateful to anatomical donors and their families for their contributions to medical education and research.
Anatomical donations are essential to medical education and research. Anatomy courses rely on anatomical donations to give students first-hand knowledge of the anatomical structures of the human body. These courses are among the first and most important in the education of physicians, dentists, nurses, physical therapists, and other health professionals.
Anatomical donations are also essential to advanced anatomy studies and research. Physicians in residency programs, practicing physicians, biomedical scientists, and others depend on anatomical donations to support new advancements in medical science.
All members of the medical community who rely on anatomical donations, from students in core anatomy courses to professionals in advanced research areas, are greatly indebted to anatomical donors and their families for making their work possible.
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The Gift of Knowledge Brochure provides information, including answers to frequently asked questions, regarding the Anatomical Donation process at the University of Michigan.
To receive a printed copy of the brochure, please email [email protected]
A donor may make an anatomical gift of the donor's body to the University of Michigan Medical School or other appropriate recipient as permitted by the RUAGL. To document the intent to make a gift, the University of Michigan has created the Donor Authorization Form for convenience, or the donor may use other procedures as detailed by statute.
A signed copy of the Donor Authorization Form may be sent to the University of Michigan Anatomical Donations Program to notify us of the gift. (See contact information.) On receipt of the completed form, a wallet card will be sent to the donor to help notify others of the intent to make an anatomical gift. Funeral homes may also assist with donation arrangements before death.
The completed gift form is a legal document of gift that may be amended or revoked. The gift becomes effective immediately upon death but is subject to conditions at the time of death and acceptance by the Anatomical Donations Program.
It is always advisable to notify the donor's family and legal representative of the intent to make an anatomical donation of the donor's body so that it may be carried out at the time of death. The reading of a will or the discovery of the gift form may come too late to accommodate the donor's wishes.
At the time of death at a location outside of Michigan Medicine, a funeral home must be contracted and advised to contact the University of Michigan Medical School Anatomical Donations Program to determine whether the Program can accept the anatomical gift of the donor's body and to obtain instructions regarding donation of the body. Family or other representatives may also call this number with any questions. Anatomical Donations staff members are available outside of normal business hours if necessary.
If death occurs at a considerable distance from the University of Michigan Medical School, transportation costs, legal issues, and potential deterioration of the deceased may prohibit delivery of the body to the University of Michigan. However, it is possible to donate the body to an alternate recipient. A funeral director can assist survivors in making arrangements for delivery to an alternate recipient.
The Michigan Medicine inpatient donation program offers individuals pre-registered with the University of Michigan Medical School Anatomical Donations Program a streamlined, expense-free pathway to facilitate their anatomical gift. (Pre-registration does not guarantee acceptance into the program). Please contact the Anatomical Donations Program for additional information about the process.
Survivors may derive comfort from the knowledge that respect for those who have donated their bodies is maintained at all times. The indispensable contribution that body donors have made is fully recognized. The teaching laboratories are situated in a restricted area and only medical and dental students, faculty, staff, or other students of the health professions are authorized to use the facility.
Selected provisions of the Revised Michigan Anatomical Gift Law, Public Act 368 of 1978, amended as Public Act 39 of 2008, are provided below.
Please Note: Although the information in this Guide is about legal issues, it is not intended as legal advice or as a substitute for the advice of your own counsel. While a reasonable effort has been made to compile complete and accurate information in this Guide, the University of Michigan does not assume any liability resulting from any errors or omissions.
Article 10 Part 101, Act No. 368, Public Acts of 1978
Sec. 10104.
Subject to section 10108, an anatomical gift of a donor's body or body part may be made during the life of the donor for the purpose of transplantation, therapy, research, or education in the manner provided in section 10105 by any of the following:
- a. The donor, if the donor is an adult or if the donor is a minor and meets 1 or more of the following requirements: (i) Is emancipated. (ii) Has been issued a driver license or identification card because the donor is at least 16 years of age.
- b. An agent of the donor, unless the power of attorney for health care or other record prohibits the agent from making an anatomical gift.
- c. A parent of the donor, if the donor is an unemancipated minor.
- d. The donor's guardian.
Sec. 10105.
(1) A donor may make an anatomical gift by doing any of the following:
- a. By authorizing a statement or symbol indicating that the donor has made an anatomical gift to be imprinted on the donor's driver license or identification card.
- b. In a will.
- c. During a terminal illness or injury of the donor, by any form of communication addressed to at least 2 adults, at least 1 of whom is a disinterested witness. However, the physician who attends the donor during the terminal illness or injury shall not act as a recipient of the communication under this subdivision.
(2) A donor or other person authorized to make an anatomical gift under section 10104 may make a gift by a donor card or other record signed by the donor or other person making the gift or by authorizing that a statement or symbol indicating that the donor has made an anatomical gift be included on a donor registry.
(3) Revocation, suspension, expiration, or cancellation of a driver license or identification card upon which an anatomical gift is indicated does not invalidate the gift.
(4) An anatomical gift made by will takes effect upon the donor's death whether or not the will is probated. Invalidation of the will after the donor's death does not invalidate the gift.
Sec. 10106.
(1) Subject to section 10108, a donor or other person authorized to make an anatomical gift under section 10104 may amend or revoke an anatomical gift by any of the following means:
- a. A record signed by any of the following: (i) The donor. (ii) The other person authorized to make an anatomical gift under section 10104. (iii) Subject to subsection (2), another individual acting at the direction of the donor or the other person authorized to make an anatomical gift under section 10104 if the donor or other person is physically unable to sign.
- b. A later-executed document of gift that amends or revokes a previous anatomical gift or portion of an anatomical gift, either expressly or by inconsistency.
(2) A record signed pursuant to subsection (1)(a)(iii) shall meet all of the following requirements:
- a. Be witnessed by at least 2 adults, at least 1 of whom is a disinterested witness, who have signed at the request of the donor or the other person.
- b. State that it has been signed and witnessed.
(3) Subject to section 10108, a donor or other person authorized to make an anatomical gift under section 10104 may revoke an anatomical gift by the destruction or cancellation of the document of gift, or the portion of the document of gift used to make the gift, with the intent to revoke the gift.
(4) A donor may amend or revoke an anatomical gift that was not made in a will by any form of communication during a terminal illness or injury addressed to at least 2 adults, at least 1 of whom is a disinterested witness.
(5) A donor who makes an anatomical gift in a will may amend or revoke the gift in the manner provided for amendment or revocation of wills or as provided in subsection (1).
Sec. 10108.
(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (7)…in the absence of an express, contrary indication by the donor, a person other than the donor is barred from making, amending, or revoking an anatomical gift of a donor's body or body part.
(2) A donor's revocation of an anatomical gift of the donor's body or body part under section 10106 is not a refusal and does not bar another person specified in section 10104 or 10109 from making an anatomical gift of the donor's body or body part under section 10105 or 10110.
(7) If a donor who is an unemancipated minor dies, a parent of the donor who is reasonably available may revoke or amend an anatomical gift of the donor's body or body part.
(8) If an unemancipated minor who signed a refusal dies, a parent of the minor who is reasonable available may revoke the minor's refusal.
Sec. 10111.
(1) An anatomical gift may be made to any of the following persons named in the document of gift:
- a. A hospital; accredited medical school, dental school, college, or university; organ procurement organization; or other appropriate person, for research or education.
(4) [I]f there is more than 1 purpose of an anatomical gift set forth in the document of gift but the purposes are not set forth in any priority, the gift shall be used for transplantation or therapy, if suitable. If the gift cannot be used for transplantation or therapy, the gift may be used for research or education.
Sec. 10113.
(1) A document of gift need not be delivered during the donor's lifetime to be effective.
Sec. 10114.
(8) [T]he rights of the person to which a body part passes under section 10111 are superior to the rights of all others with respect to the body part. The person may accept or reject an anatomical gift in whole or in part. Subject to the terms of the document of gift and this part, a person that accepts an anatomical gift of an entire body may allow embalming, burial, or cremation, and use of remains in a funeral service. If the gift is of a body part, the person to which the body part passes under section 10111, upon the death of the donor and before embalming, burial, or cremation, shall cause the body part to be removed without unnecessary mutilation.
Sec. 10122.
In applying and construing this part, consideration shall be given to the need to promote uniformity of the law with respect to its subject matter among states that enact it.
Following the study of the donor's body, the remains are cremated. For temporary donations, ashes may be returned to the donor's family or a funeral director for private burial. A request for the return of ashes must be made in writing by the time the donor's body is transported to the Medical School, or shortly thereafter. For permanent donations, the ashes will not be returned.
If the donor's legal representative requests that the ashes be buried at the University of Michigan, the deceased will be interred in conjunction with the annual University of Michigan Service of Gratitude. Medical students are involved with all aspects of the ceremony. Family and friends of all donors are invited; close to 1,000 people attend each year to share memories and help with the healing process.
To help meet the need for anatomical gifts for medical education and research, as well as to help protect the interests of donors and their families, the Michigan state legislature enacted several versions of anatomical gift laws in 1958, 1969, and 1978. The 1978 law was Public Act 368 of 1978.
In 2008, Michigan amended the 1978 Act with Public Act 39 of 2008, providing the short title of the amended statute as the Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Law (RUAGL). The 1978 Act, as amended in 2008, simplifies donation and protects donor intent as well as creates almost universal uniformity across states.
