No. Bodies are not accepted for teaching purposes if organs have been donated or if there has been a post-mortem examination. However, if only the corneas are to be donated, a body can be left for research.

To find out more information about whole body donation for research purposes or for anatomical examination you will need to contact:

For England and Wales:
The Human Tissue Authority
Finlaison House
15-17 Furnival Street
London
EC4A 1AB
www.hta.gov.uk

For Scotland:
Contact your nearest medical school:

Aberdeen
Department of Anatomy
Tel: 01224 274 320/01224 272 000

Dundee
College of Life Sciences,
University of Dundee
Tel: 01382 388 825

Edinburgh
Department of Biomedical Sciences,
University of Edinburgh
Tel: 0131 650 2997/0131 650 8318

Glasgow
The Anatomy Department,
University of Glasgow
Tel: 0141 330 4296/0141 339 8855

St Andrews
Department of Anatomy,
University of St Andrews
Tel: 01334 463 601

For Northern Ireland, write to:
The Department of Anatomy,
Queen's University Belfast,
Medical Biology Centre,
97 Lisburn Road,
Belfast BT9 7BL.
Tel: 028 9097 2131.

Confidentiality is always maintained, except in the case of living donors who already know each other.

If the family wish, they will be given some brief details such as the age and sex of the person or persons who have benefited from the donation. Patients who receive organs can obtain similar details about their donors. It is not always possible to provide recipient information to donor families for some types of tissue transplant.

Those involved may want to exchange anonymous letters of thanks or good wishes through the transplant co-ordinators and in some instances donor families and recipients have arranged to meet.