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Post-mortem subjects are not very popular, but it may be some comfort to know that your reasonable desires regarding your final resting place or other post-mortem instructions will be followed to the extent possible. In this country, courts have recognized that instructions regarding burial or the disposition of your body are generally respected in preference to any opposing wishes of your survivors. These requests, however, are not absolutely binding after death because of such variables as the special interests of the decedent's survivors and delay in discovering the decedent's requests. In a Utah case, a court was faced with a serious dilemma. A decedent's will stated his preference to be cremated, but he was buried in a cemetery soon after his death without any objection by the personal representative named in the will. At a later time, the personal representative asked the court for permission to have the body exhumed and cremated. The court refused, stating that the personal representative failed to carry out the request by permitting the family to arrange and conduct the funeral. The court ruled that, because he did not act promptly after the decedent's death, the body should remain buried. In Arizona, any individual of sound mind and who is 18 years of age or older may give all or any part of his body to various institutions for such purposes as education, research, therapy, transplantation or the advancement of medical or dental science. A spouse and certain relatives may make the donation if there are not contrary indications by the deceased. If you wish to donate all or some part of our body following your death, you may provide for it by a will, a recorded oral message or a document signed in the presence of two witnesses, who must also sign it. If you have strong feelings concerning the disposal of your remains, you should not rely exclusively on your will to express those wishes. Your family may not look for a will until after the funeral. Furthermore, organ donation must be completed very quickly after death occurs. You may use more than a single method to express your desires, but a separate written document, witnessed by two people should be included. Give copies of this document to your closest family members or friends. |