When thinking about end-of-life plans, people often think in terms of being buried or cremated. But former Essex Junction, Vermont resident Alberta Bundy had something else in mind. When she died of cancer last year at 86, her family was well aware she wanted to donate her body to science.
"She really felt like she could help people in research and help people get a better handle on cancer and a cure for cancer," said Wanda Loven, one of Bundy's six children.
Loven's sister died of cancer, and she thinks it's one of the reasons her mom was so interested in the Anatomical Gift Program at the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine. "She would always say, 'Oh, they're going to learn a lot from my body,'" Loven said. "My mom was always a teacher by heart."
It's hard to get an exact number, but estimates suggest more than 20,000 Americans a year donate their whole bodies for the purpose of scientific research and education. It's a small number, but one that has steadily risen in recent decades. Academic institutions in the region that accept these donations say they're critical to teaching students life-saving medical skills.
Helping educate people after death is one reason Doug Lantz of Hanover, New Hampshire, has decided to donate his body to the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College — just like his parents, aunt and uncle, and grandmother, Hazel, did. "Haze was a rebel, but she always said, 'When I die I'm going to Dartmouth! And they're going to study me and learn some things,'" Lantz said with a laugh. "She inspired me. I mean, it's the ultimate gift and I think it's great that there may be some young doctor that can learn something from me."
James Reed, who directs Dartmouth's Anatomical Gifts Program, said they accept an average of 28 bodies a year, and more than 1,700 people are registered to be donors, while interest overall is strong.
"The people who call us just for information is in the realm of 20 to 30 a day," he said.
UVM accepts close to 30 bodies a year, said Abigail Hielscher, who directs the anatomical gift program. That's a significant decrease from before the COVID pandemic, and she said they've had to adapt their teaching accordingly, with more students working on fewer bodies.
But Hielscher said they continue to have more than 1,600 people registered as potential donors.
"We see folks from the health care professions, clergy, homemakers and teachers too, which I think is really special, because in death they can continue teaching," she said.
Both UVM and Dartmouth say they have strict internal protocols for handling body donations.
Some academic programs and for-profit companies — so-called body brokers — have made headlines for mishandling human remains.
Human bodies and parts of bodies are used for a wide variety of research, but there is no central U.S. registry monitoring body donor programs, and there are no federal laws in place regulating them.
Like most states, Vermont and New Hampshire follow The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, which outlines program standards and requires donors to provide informed consent.
"We have paperwork which details how the bodies are used, and it gives the donors the opportunity to have a say in what and how they want their bodies to be used," Hielscher said.
Neither UVM nor Dartmouth lends or borrows bodies from other universities, and not all bodies are accepted. Someone who died of an infectious disease might be turned away, Hielscher said. A body's size and weight can also impact whether it's accepted, and she said organ donors are dealt with case by case.
For bodies that are accepted and used, UVM covers cremation costs and other expenses, as is common among similar university programs nationally. And those financial savings can be another strong motivating factor for some donors who may not have insurance or money set aside for traditional funeral arrangements after they die.
Whether for financial or altruistic reasons, those who donate their bodies to science are having an impact on students at UVM and Dartmouth.
At UVM, at least 200 students in a variety of fields learn from the donors.
"I remember walking in and feeling kind of in awe," said Kade Bidwell, a medical science student from Atlanta. "I mean, the professors really prepared us on how important it is that these are people and to respect them. So it did seem like solemn ground."
"This is definitely a very special and unique situation to see the actual physical layout and the way these processes occur in somebody," added Arianna Blanchard, a first-year physical therapy student from Pawlet. "So yeah, it's exciting and emotionally nerve-wracking."
Bidwell experienced the nerve-wracking part early on when he noticed for the first time that his donor's hands had painted fingernails. "That was really difficult. I got in the car with my girlfriend at the end of the day and I just bawled."
But he said working in the lab has made him even more certain he wants to be a doctor. "It was like a pivotal moment for me in my journey towards med school. And it's motivating me to keep going. It's a gift."
Bidwell hopes to study oncology and help treat cancer patients.
Alberta Bundy, the donor from Essex Junction, may have liked that.
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