# What do you want done with your body when you die? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 9, 2013, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890 "2013-12-09T14:08:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/21 "2013-12-09T17:18:43Z")
I hope doctors can use what they can - organs and such. Then cremate me. We have a family plot so ashes can go there. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/22 "2013-12-09T17:34:54Z")
No “death” for me…its “coldsleep”! I’ll be laughing when I emerge (new body) in 2375! ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/23 "2013-12-09T17:37:50Z")
It doesn’t matter much to me…I’ll be done using it at that point. It would be nice if my organs could be used, or my body could go to science. But mainly, I just hope that my final disposition is easy and inexpensive for whomever needs to carry it out. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/24 "2013-12-09T17:47:36Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The last time I was asked by my family about what to do with my body, I told them to just haul it up in a helicopter and drop it on a Republican. 😃 That’s disgusting! Your body would get all dirty and stuff. As for me, put me in an oven, crackle, crackle, crackle, and sprinkle just a bit over each banana split. I’m into compression, so why take up more room than necessary. ---
**Author:** ![jrsone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jrsone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrsone)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/25 "2013-12-09T17:54:20Z")
Donating it to Science…Fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/26 "2013-12-09T17:56:30Z")
I want to be entombed beneath a giant golden statue of an archangel with gas jet eyes and when you approach it, it bellows “Behold! You approach the resting place of Jophiel! Tremble with fear for if God saw fit to take this man from the Earth, what value could your own life hold?” Also, I want women to sit beside it wailing and covering themselves with ashes 24/7. This “Dump me in a ditch” nonsense is for people without vision. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/27 "2013-12-09T18:18:38Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Cremation reduces the body to carbon dioxide and basic compounds and minerals, all useful to plants and other growing things. Toss your cremains in the the ocean and the circle is just as complete as feeding meat to worms. Tree gotta eat, same as worms. By that logic, burning food is just as good for the earth as eating it. Rotting is a much better transfer of energy to other living things. Cremation removes energy from the food chain. It also uses natural gas . ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/28 "2013-12-09T18:22:49Z")
What I’d like? I’d like my husband to build me a pine box and put me in the back yard along with all my illegally buried cats. Plant some nice flowers on me. Unless MN finally gets done with its hopes for natural burial before I die I’ll probably end up hanging by my ears in a tub of formaldehyde at a medical school. I hope I don’t have to hover at the ceiling and hear, “Oh Gawd. Look at this one.” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/29 "2013-12-09T18:26:23Z")
The wife has already said she’ll get a Hawaiian shirt cozy for my urn, so I’m good. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/30 "2013-12-09T18:30:49Z")
Rereading and chuckling. I try to be of logical bent but this issue is one where I see the spiritual side creep into most all of us. If we’re truly gone it truly doesn’t matter. We say it. But. I’m always trying to explain to people what spirituality is to deniers that we are body mind and spirit. I see a few more examples to add to my list. Doesn’t make us defective in logic. Makes us whole. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/31 "2013-12-09T18:31:18Z")
I want my organs to go to people who could use them. The rest of my body could go to science and/or medical education. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/32 "2013-12-09T18:34:54Z")
Donation/research, then cheap cremation. Natural burial would be ok, too. Just please no embalming fluids or fancy casket – what a horror show. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/33 "2013-12-09T18:36:35Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Donate to a medical school, then cremation when they’re done carving me up. This. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/34 "2013-12-09T18:40:18Z")
I would like to be turned into a [diamond](http://www.lifegem.com/), or several. Then they can be handed out as keepsakes like on a keychain. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/35 "2013-12-09T18:53:24Z")
Perhaps a little something like [this](https://plus.google.com/112277485029071497912#112277485029071497912/posts). ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/36 "2013-12-09T18:54:32Z")
If they can use my organs, great - go ahead, then donate what’s left to a medical school to teach the next generation of doctors how we’re put together. If not, then donate my intact corpse to [a body farm.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_farm) (more about [body farms here](http://www.damninteresting.com/the-remains-of-doctor-bass/)) ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/37 "2013-12-09T18:57:42Z")
I don’t know. Surprise me. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/38 "2013-12-09T19:57:31Z")
> [@VarlosZ](#): > > Donation/research, then cheap cremation. Natural burial would be ok, too. Just please no embalming fluids or fancy casket – what a horror show. That’s a pretty good order of operations. Donate bits if anyone can use 'em. If none are needed then reassign me to the cadaver lab. If I’m too messy from tiger bites or paper cuts, then fit me with cement boots and drop me into the ocean. As for any formal grieving ceremony, I guess I’ll leave that to anyone who’s grieving because such things are for the living. I just don’t want to be there. Crowds make me jumpy and, well, it just wouldn’t be a good scene. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/39 "2013-12-09T20:11:52Z")
Another for donation, then I want the remains to be composted. Let some good come of me. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2013, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890/40 "2013-12-09T21:11:14Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > [This.](http://bigthink.com/design-for-good/this-awesome-urn-will-turn-you-into-a-tree-after-you-die) Awesome idea, **Foxtrot**! WAY better than cremation, which was my first choice. :::toddling off to revise my will:::: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-want-done-with-your-body-when-you-die/675890.md?page=3)