Choosing what your loved ones should do with your body after you die can be one of the most difficult choices of most people’s lives.
Whether it be cremation, a regular burial, arguing over the music you want at your funeral, open or closed casket - the number of choices to make that you won’t be there for can be overwhelming.
One couple, however, have spoken about why they are going to forego all this and donate their bodies to science in entirety when they die.
Peter and Jane Dick appeared on This Morning to discuss their choice, stating from the beginning of the ITV show that they have always been open about their deaths.
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Peter said: “I'd say that we've always managed to realize that you get born, you live, you die, and you might as well think about it.”
The pair ‘aren’t particularly religious’, with Peter having explained one of the more positive reasons behind his decision.
He said that that he had ‘benefited from the medical world solving both bowel cancer and prostate cancer’, adding: “So having realised what an amazing world doctors are, I wanted to do something to train the next lot.”
Jane said she was ‘slightly surprised’ at first, but added: “When I thought about it I thought this was a completely rational decision.
“We are all going to die at some point and my feeling is that if your body can be of use for training the next generation of doctors then that’s a positive outcome you can take from someone sadly passing away.”
Though Peter joked about wanting to use his money to buy a 60-inch TV, the reason for the decision was actually predominantly financial: Peter and Jane decided to donate their bodies to science to avoid the costs of a funeral.
Funerals currently average a whopping £4,000, leading the pair to make the decision so they could save money they would otherwise need to leave in their will to cover the funeral.
The pair were joined by Claire Smith, a Professor of Anatomy at Brighton and Sussex Medical school.
She explained that, if one of them were to die, their next of kin would notify the university and they would collect the body for testing and training doctors, assuming they don’t have certain diseases or conditions.
She said: “Anytime you see a medical healthcare professional you don’t want to be the first patient that they’ve learned on.
“We do everything, we train professionals, we develop further surgical techniques, we trained the robots that operated on Peter.”
Jane stated that she was previously an organ donor and felt this was ‘simply a logical extension’ of that.
Peter added: “Most people choose a funeral in the ground or cremation, to me I think giving my body back to the world of medicine to let them have a look around seems a good idea.”
Topics: ITV, Science, TV, TV and Film, This Morning, Health, Cancer, Sex and Relationships, Money
Michael Slavin