Grieving families who can’t afford a burial will see their loved ones’ remains donated to science unless they object under a controversial Cook County rule, officials said.
Bodies will be kept at the county morgue for just two weeks before they are handed to a non-profit organization that supplies them to universities for research and use in anatomy classes, Medical Examiner Nancy Jones wrote in a memo to staff last week.
Unclaimed remains — which the county has also previously paid $300 to bury in a pauper’s grave in Homewood — will also be kept for only two weeks, then donated, effective immediately.
This is a great program. My mother, who was a registered nurse, and my father, both donated their bodies to science.
What that means is student doctors are able to practice operation techniques on the cadavers, in order to learn. They can doit by computer, but nothing beats actual hands on training. The bodies are treated respectfully and are draped so that only the area of operation is visible. One body can be used for scores of practice medical procedures.
The ashes of the loved ones are returned to the family after a year, when the body is finally cremated.
