ponce health sciences university st louis missouri campus

PHSU St.Louis Body Donor Program

Medical Students learning with Cadaver
Thank you for considering gifting your remains to PHSU St. Louis Body Donor Program. Your generous gift will play a critical role in educating future physicians and helping patients of tomorrow. The need for bodies is great and your gift will allow PHSU students to learn and understand the complexities of the human body far better than they could learn from textbooks alone.
Read through some commonly asked questions below and reach out to our Body Donor Program Coordinator, Dr. Annessa Blackmun with any questions bodydonorprogram@psm.edu.
Any individual who is at least 18 years of age may become a gift body donor under the stated conditions. A donation of another’s body may be made after death by an attorney in fact under the durable power of attorney, by the next of kin or by a guardian.
This form must be completed and signed in the presence of a notary public. One form must be returned to PHSU St. Louis in the provided self-addressed envelope and include the individual’s original signature and the original stamp/seal and signature of the notary. The second copy of the gift form should be kept with the individual’s personal files. Following completion of the forms and informing the family of the desire there is nothing more to be done until death.
Bodies with a communicable disease, infections, or isolation precautions such as HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis, MRSA, ORSA, VRE, or C. diff will not be accepted under any circumstances.  Other reasons we may be unable to accept the donation of a body at the time of death include, but are not limited to, circumstances involving amputations, autopsy or organ donation, major trauma due to accidents or suicide, or morbid obesity (in general, females who exceed 200 pounds and males who exceed 250 pounds.
Please contact the Body Donor Program Coordinator at bodydonorprogram@psm.edu for a full and current list of restrictions.
The only expense that the family or estate incurs when there is a gift body is the transportation by a funeral director or transporting company. Typically, a funeral director will remove the body from the place of death, finalize the death certificate details, and transport the body to us. It is suggested that an inquiry about the charges for transportation be made prior to authorizing delivery. PHSU St. Louis does not assume expenses.
The gift of one’s body after death is governed by the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act of the state of Missouri, which became law in 1969. Sections 194.210 to 194.290 of the Missouri Revised Statutes are cited as the Act. It has provided uniformity with similar laws of other states.

Following death, the body needs to be transported to PHSU St. Louis as soon as possible for proper preparation. Therefore, the body cannot be present at a funeral or memorial service. All donors and families are encouraged to have a memorial service, depending upon their own faith and beliefs, shortly after the death.

Where a gift of body donation form filled out, notarized and signed, indicates that the donor elects that their body should be returned to the family, these requests must be made in writing within 90 days of the donor’s death to the Coordinator of Body Donations Dr. Annessa Blackmun. Thereafter, the cremains will be returned to the family member indicated by the donor upon completion of PHSU St. Louis’ use of the body.

PHSU St. Louis and our students greatly appreciate your selfless gift of body donation. Please click the button below, then print, complete, sign, and notarize both forms. One should be returned to us while the other copy should be kept with your personal papers. Without donors like you, our medical students would not have such a high-quality opportunity to learn about the human body. Your body will be treated with the utmost respect and your remains will be returned to the family member designated in your documents.

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