What To Do With A Body

Do you know what you want done with your body after you die?

I understand this is a bit of a gruesome topic, but let me just appeal to you for a moment. There is 100% chance of you dying.

Apologies if that is hard to hear, but it’s true.

So now that we’ve gotten that out in the open…do you know what you want done with your body after you die? Bury? Cremate? Donate to science? Made into a tree or soil?

There are a lot of options these days and some that are pretty out of the box.

And, if you think you want to just let your family decide for you after you pass, let me share a few reasons why that is a bad idea:

1. Your loved ones are sad and grieving your loss and they do not want to deal with another decision to make on your behalf.

2. They will likely agonize over what you would have wanted and may even prefer to select the most expensive and elaborate option because they think that is the most honoring of you- regardless of whether or not that is what you would have wanted.

3. Your loved ones may even disagree as to what should be done with your body and can lead to a contentious situation.

Given these scenarios, why not take a moment to consider what you want and tell your family? Or, better yet, document it somewhere too!

This month, we will feature different options of what you can do with a body in Middle TN and will feature Larkspur Conservation, Austin Funeral and Cremation Services, and Vanderbilt Anatomical Research Program.

My hope is that we can all come to terms with reality and give our families the gift of clarity by telling them what we want.