Frequently Asked Questions

Under the Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act of North Carolina subject to general statutes

 §130A-412.6, and §130A-412.11

Any competent person 18 years or older or a legally authorized person that has the authority to donate the body of their loved one* can do so.

There is no upper age limit.

* N.C.G.S. § 130A-412.11 provides for the following classes of persons to donate a body for educational purposes in order of priority listed:

(1)  An agent of the decedent  to the extent authorized under a power of attorney for health care or other record who could have made such a donation during the deceased’s life;
(2) The spouse of the decedent;
(3) Adult children of the decedent;
(4) Parents of the decedent;
(5) Adult siblings of the decedent
(6) Adult grandchildren of the decedent;
(7) Grandparents of the decedent;
(8) An adult who exhibited special care and concern for the decedent;
(9) The persons who were acting as the guardians of the person of the decedent at the time of death; and
(10) any person having the authority to dispose of the decedent’s body.

Whole-body donation is when a donor wills his or her entire or whole-body to a university, medical school, or other program. Organ donation is when a donor wills their organs for use in transplantation, medical, or clinical research.

No. High Point University’s Willed Body Program is a whole-body donation program. Organ and tissue donation, other than the donation of eyes for corneal transplantation, will make a donor unsuitable for our program.

No. High Point University’s Willed Body Program is committed to making the choice to donate stress free. We will cover the cost of the following:

• Transportation (within 300 miles*) to our on-campus Care Center
• Preparation for donation and cremation upon completion
• The urn the cremated remains are placed into following cremation
• Filing the death certificate and a burial transit permit
• Interring the cremated remains in our Memorial Garden
• Scattering remains in the Atlantic Ocean
• Returning cremated remains by certified mail through the United States Postal Service

In many cases a will might not be read for several days or months following a donor’s death. This would cause the notification of the donor’s death to be delayed. Because of the nature of the donation, we ask that a donor be transferred into our care within 24 hours after death. It is more effective to share your wishes with your family, authorized representative, and even your clergy of your wish to donate.

Once all forms have been received, reviewed and accepted by the Willed Body Program, we will mail an acknowledgement of receipt along with three Donor Identification Cards. You should keep one Donor Identification Card for your own personal records in a purse or wallet and give the others to trusted individuals that will assist in carrying out your wish to donate to High Point University.

No. By law, willed body/anatomical donation programs are not permitted to give money or purchase a body for the use as a donation.

High Point University’s Willed Body Program strongly believes in the numerous medical advancements and patient care benefits that develop from the generous gift of whole-body donation. For this reason, we feel that higher education should never stop but continue throughout one’s life. Below are some examples of how the gift of donation can impact our students and our health sciences community.

• Educating our graduate students in Athletic Training, Physician Assistant Studies, and Physical Therapy, and our undergraduate Advanced Anatomy students with exceptional knowledge and dynamic understanding of the human body.
• Advancing new techniques or devices for sustainable patient health care by our local healthcare community of doctors, nurses, physicians, physician assistants, and other medical professionals.
• Developing cutting-edge medical training for our emergency responders, military professionals and more.

Yes. The Willed Body Program will reserves the right to transfer a gift to another educational institution located in North Carolina for enhancing health sciences through educational instruction, research and medical training methods.

We will do our best to make sure that your gift is used at High Point University, but should the program feel the identity of the donor would be at risk, then we reserve the right to donate the body to another local Willed Body Program.

The Willed Body Program may retain a donor’s remains for a period of three weeks to two years before cremation occurs and final disposition is made.

High Point University’s Willed Body Program will collect any personal effects arriving at our Care Center and place all items in a secure area. We will contact the authorized representative(s) to return the items by certified mail through the U.S. Postal Service or by a scheduled appointment with the Willed Body Program.

Upon completion of studies, High Point University will transport donors to a locally contracted crematory licensed to operate under state law for cremation. All donors are individually cremated.

Following the return of cremated remains from the contracted crematory, the Willed Body Program will review the signed Document of Gift and follow instructions to either:

Return the cremated remains to the appointed representative(s),in an urn, in the order determined by the donor in the document of gift.

*Inter the cremated remains in High Point University’s future Willed Body Program Memorial Garden located at High Point University.

Scatter the cremated remains at sea in the Atlantic Ocean.

*Currently, the Memorial Garden has not been established and will be constructed at a future date to be announced.

Yes. To show our reverence and to thank the generous donors, their family and friends, the Willed Body Program invites all to join us at our annual Memorial Service.  During the service students, faculty, and the community will have an opportunity to express what each gift meant for them. It is our hope that comfort and peace will touch the hearts of all who attend.

No. Cremated remains are buried each year prior to our annual memorial service. All donors whose studies have been completed and have chosen burial will be interred together in a (unmarked) vault. Under no circumstances can a donor’s remains be exhumed from the burial plot.

No. It is not the responsibility of the Willed Body Program to report any medical finding or details of specific studies that were related to the donor.