Full Body Donation & Cremation Choices
Some funeral providers in California offer free cremation through the donation of a decedent’s body to science for educational and medical research. We are pleased to be working with the leading fully accredited full body donation organization, Science Care, located in Long Beach, California.
Why Consider Body Donation?
- Contribute to meaningful medical research
- Free Cremation - the entire cost of direct cremation is covered
- Family can receive the remains in 2-5 weeks after cremation.
How Body Donation Works
At the time of passing, contact your funeral provider first. Both The Omega Society and Legacy Funeral & Cremation Care offer full body donation services. They will arrange to have your loved one picked up from the place of death and brought to their facility.
- Pre-Approval: Hospice patients can be pre-approved through Science Care’s Hope Program
- Approval: After the passing Science Care can be contacted through The Omega Society to obtain approval and clearance for donation.
It is important to inform Science Care that you are working through a funeral provider.
Simply let your funeral provider know at the time of passing that your loved one has been pre-approved by Science Care, or that you are interested in donating to Science Care. Your provider can assist with the coordination, and the eventual transport to Science Care, once approval has been obtained.
Your funeral provider handles the cremation at its facility once the donation is complete.
Benefits of Full Body Donation
After death has occurred, and your loved one is on our care, you will have the comfort of having trained counselors available to you, either by phone or in person, to help you with the donation process, as well as final arrangement details. Going through a funeral provider also allows the family to have additional services available to them that Science Care does not offer.
Your chosen funeral provider will handle the signing, and filing of the permit and will place an order for death certificates on your behalf. They can arrange for a private identification viewing or a witnessed cremation, provide a selection of upgraded urns and keepsakes, arrange for a private charter to witness the scattering at sea, or an un-witnessed sea scattering with certificate. None of these options are offered by Science Care. Science Care will cover the cost of shipping cremated remains to anywhere in the US.
Should your loved one not be approved for donation, your family will not have to struggle to look for a cremation provider to handle the cremation. Your loved one will already be in the care of a licensed funeral provider.
The donation of a loved one to science is a gift to all of us. Through research and practice, your gift allows for the advancement of medical technology, which benefits all of mankind.