Many of our clients who make Spanish Wills tell us that they have joined the register to donate their bodies to medical science upon their death, which initially sounds like an amazing thing to do, very easy, straight forward and hassle free.
However we have recently spoken with a client who was refused the process because their husband passed away at the weekend and the department of Medical Science at the University do not work at the weekends, leaving her with a funeral to arrange and pay for at very short notice, not to mention at an extremely upsetting time.
Other clients have received a letter from the University to say that they are introducing a 1.000€ fee for the collection of the body and that the person requesting the collection will be obliged to pay this.
Other clauses in the recent communication specify that bodies with the following conditions will not be accepted:
- Severe injury or trauma
- Contagious diseases
- Amputees
- Organ donations
- Having undergone major surgery
- Obesity (+150 kg)
- Radioactive contamination
For bodies to be donated to Medical Science in this area death must occur within the province of Alicante.
After reading through these clauses and conditions it is very clear that the matter is not as straight forward as initially thought and that ‘donating your body to medical science’ could actually raise unknown issues at a very distressing time.
If this may affect you or your family and you would like clarification regarding the whole funeral process and what it means to you, please do not hesitate to contact us.