Organ, Tissue, and Whole-Body Donation in Arizona
When you sit down with us to sign your Arizona Health Care Power of Attorney, one of the questions on the form asks whether you want to be an organ, tissue, or body donor, and if so, for what purposes. It is a short section on the page, but it is a big question in real life. We have noticed that most clients have never been given enough information to answer it the way they really want to.
So we built this page. Our goal is not to convince you of any answer. Our goal is to make sure that when you check a box on your Health Care Power of Attorney, you are doing it as an informed decision, in line with your values, your faith, your family, and your wishes for what happens after you are gone.
We are estate planning attorneys, not funeral directors. What we can do is explain what the form asks, what Arizona law allows, and what each option typically costs and looks like in practice. Please confirm specific arrangements and current pricing directly with a licensed Arizona funeral establishment or cemetery before you finalize plans.
Where This Decision Lives in Your Estate Plan
Here is what is actually available to Arizona residents today.
Under Arizona law, your Health Care Power of Attorney is one of the primary places your donation wishes are recorded. The statutory form asks you to indicate:
- Whether you want to be an organ and tissue donor at all.
- The purposes for which your gift may be used, which typically include transplantation, therapy, research, and education.
- Whether you want to limit donation to specific organs or tissues, or specific uses.
- Whether you authorize your healthcare agent to make or carry out an anatomical gift on your behalf.
Your Health Care Power of Attorney works alongside two other tools:
- The DonateLifeAZ Registry, which is Arizona’s official donor registry and is legally binding under the Revised Arizona Anatomical Gift Act (Donor Network of Arizona).
- Pre-enrollment paperwork with any whole-body donation program you wish to join, which the program requires you to sign during your lifetime.
When all three are consistent, your family is not left guessing. When they are inconsistent, or when only one is completed, families often end up in difficult conversations at the worst possible moment. Part of our job is to make sure the paperwork tells one clear story.
The Four Purposes You Can Donate For
The Arizona statutory Health Care Power of Attorney mirrors the Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act and lets you authorize donation for any combination of these purposes (A.R.S. § 36-850). Understanding what each one actually means in practice helps you decide which boxes to check.
1. Transplantation
This is the purpose most people picture first. Your organs and tissues are recovered after death and transplanted into a living patient who needs them.
Examples of what can be transplanted include:
- Solid organs: heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, and intestines.
- Tissues: corneas, heart valves, blood vessels, skin (often used for burn victims), bone, tendons, ligaments, and cartilage.
A single donor can save up to eight lives through organ donation and heal more than seventy-five additional lives through tissue donation. Real-world examples include a kidney going to a parent on dialysis who can now attend their child’s graduation, donated corneas restoring sight to two different recipients, donated skin treating a firefighter with severe burns, and donated heart valves giving a child with a congenital defect a chance at a normal life.
2. Therapy
Therapeutic donation involves tissues used to treat a patient’s medical condition without a full transplant. Examples include processed bone used to repair fractures, tendons used in ACL reconstruction for a high school athlete, and skin grafts used in reconstructive surgery after a mastectomy.
3. Research
Research donation supports the science that leads to future cures. Examples include:
- Brain tissue studied at the Banner Sun Health Research Institute to advance understanding of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and Lewy body dementia (Banner Brain and Body Donation Program).
- Tumor tissue donated for cancer research, helping scientists test new chemotherapy drugs and immunotherapies.
- Heart tissue used to study congestive heart failure.
- Whole-body donations used in research on traumatic brain injury, joint replacement design, and the safety of new surgical devices.
If you have lived with a particular disease, research donation can be a powerful way to contribute to the work that may one day spare others from it.
4. Education
Education donation is what most people mean when they say they want to “donate their body to science.” Your body is used to teach human anatomy to medical students, surgical technique to residents, and continuing education to practicing physicians. Examples include:
- First-year medical students at the University of Arizona College of Medicine learning anatomy from a donor for an entire nine-month academic year (UA Willed Body Program).
- Orthopedic surgeons practicing a new joint replacement technique before performing it on a patient.
- Emergency medicine residents practicing airway procedures and chest tube placement.
- Dental students learning oral and facial anatomy.
- Physical therapy and nursing students studying musculoskeletal structures.
Many clients tell us that education donation feels like extending the work of a teacher, a mentor, or a caregiver one final time.
The Two Paths People Often Confuse
When clients say they want to “donate their body,” they usually mean one of two very different things. Knowing the difference matters, because in most cases you cannot do both.
Path 1:
Organ and Tissue Donation Through Donate Life
This is donation for transplant, therapy, and healing. It happens in a hospital, shortly after death is legally declared, and the body is returned to the family for traditional funeral arrangements, including open-casket services if that matters to you. This is what registering at the MVD or at DonateLifeAZ.org signs you up for.
Path 2:
Whole-Body Donation for Education and Research
This is donation of your entire body to a medical school, research institute, or anatomical program. Your body remains with the program for months or even years while it is used for teaching or research, after which the program cremates the remains and either returns them to the family or scatters them, depending on the program's policies.
Whole-body programs in Arizona generally cannot accept a donor whose organs have already been removed for transplant, with corneas usually being the only exception (UA Willed Body Program FAQs). That is why this is an either/or decision for most people.
A thoughtful approach we sometimes see clients take is to register with Donate Life Arizona and also pre-enroll in a whole-body program, with the understanding that organ donation will take priority if it becomes medically possible, and the whole-body program will serve as the backup wish if organ donation does not happen. Always confirm this layered approach directly with the specific whole-body program you are enrolling in, because their rules vary.
Let's Clear a Few Things Up
Myths and Facts
These are the questions clients most often ask us in quiet voices. The facts are reassuring.
Myth: If I am a registered donor, doctors will not work as hard to save me.
Fact: Your medical team’s only job is to save your life. Donation is not even considered until every effort has failed and death has been legally declared. An entirely separate team handles the donation conversation, and that team has no involvement in your care while you are alive (Mayo Clinic).
Myth: I am too old or not healthy enough to donate.
Fact: There is no upper age limit for organ, tissue, or whole-body donation in Arizona's main programs. Suitability is decided at the time of death based on the condition of your organs and tissues, not your birthday. Donors in their eighties and nineties have successfully given the gift of sight through cornea donation, and the University of Arizona's Willed Body Program reports that the average age of its donors is in the eighties (Mayo Clinic).
Myth: My family will be billed for the donation.
Fact: There is no cost to your family or estate for organ and tissue donation, and Arizona’s primary whole-body programs cover transportation within the state and cremation as well (Donor Network of Arizona) (UA Willed Body Program). Your family remains responsible for unrelated hospital charges and any funeral or memorial services they choose to hold.
Myth: I cannot have an open-casket funeral if I donate.
Fact: Organ and tissue recovery is performed surgically and with great dignity. Incisions are closed, the body is treated with respect, and an open-casket funeral remains an option. Whole body donation is different. The body is not returned for a traditional funeral, so families often plan a memorial service in advance, or hold a celebration of life at the time of death and a second gathering when cremated remains are returned, where the program returns them.
Myth: My religion is against donation.
Fact: Most major faith traditions, including Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, most branches of Judaism, and most Protestant denominations, view donation as an act of compassion and charity (Mayo Clinic). Some traditions have specific guidance about timing or handling, so if this matters to you, a conversation with your clergy is a good place to start.
Myth: The wealthy and famous get bumped to the top of the transplant list.
Fact: The national matching system uses medical urgency, blood type and tissue compatibility, time waiting on the list, and geographic proximity. It does not use fame, wealth, or social status. A retired teacher in Yuma and a Fortune 500 CEO in Paradise Valley with the same medical profile have the same priority (Mayo Clinic).
Myth: Once I sign up, my family can override my wishes.
Fact: Under the Revised Arizona Anatomical Gift Act, your registration is first-person authorization, which is a legally binding decision that can only be changed by you during your lifetime (Donor Network of Arizona) (A.R.S. § 36-850). However, whole body programs are different. Most will not accept a donor over the objection of close family, even when paperwork is in order (UA Willed Body Program FAQs). This is one of the most important reasons to tell your family what you have chosen and why.
Myth: My donation will be sold for profit.
Fact: Arizona law and federal law prohibit the sale of organs and tissues for transplantation. There is no monetary compensation to your estate or family. Some whole body donation programs are nonprofit, including the University of Arizona Willed Body Program, and some are for-profit companies that recover their costs through fees charged to medical schools and research institutions. Each program is required to disclose this structure to you during enrollment, and we encourage clients to ask direct questions about how their donation will be used.
Myth: I already have “donor” on my driver’s license, so I am all set.
Fact: The heart icon on your Arizona driver’s license is a visual cue, but the legal record of your status is the DonateLifeAZ Registry itself (Donor Network of Arizona). If you have moved from another state, updated your license, or are not sure when you last registered, take two minutes to check your status at DonateLifeAZ.org.
The Arizona Basics
Donate Life Arizona
The DonateLifeAZ Registry is Arizona’s official organ, eye, and tissue donor registry, operated by Donor Network of Arizona, our federally designated nonprofit organ procurement organization.
Three ways Arizonans typically register (Donor Network of Arizona):
- At the MVD. Say “yes” when you renew your driver’s license or state ID. More than 95 percent of Arizona registrations happen this way (Donor Network of Arizona).
- Online at DonateLifeAZ.org. It takes about two minutes.
- By phone at 1-800-94-DONOR, or in person at community events where Donor Network volunteers are registering donors (DonateLifeAZ).
To update or remove your registration, log in at DonateLifeAZ.org, email contact.us@dnaz.org, or call 602-241-5550 (Donor Network of Arizona).
A small but important note: the little heart DONOR symbol on your driver’s license is a wonderful visual cue, but the registry itself is the legal record of your status, not the license.
Whole-Body Donation Programs Serving Arizona
If your interest is in advancing medical education or research, you have several thoughtful Arizona options. Each program has its own enrollment rules, geographic requirements, and acceptance criteria, and pre-enrollment during your lifetime is almost always required. None of these are programs we can register you with. You must complete each program’s paperwork yourself, sign it personally, and in most cases send original signed copies to the program.
University of Arizona College of Medicine Willed Body Program (Tucson)
Founded in 1967, the Willed Body Program serves the University of Arizona College of Medicine’s Tucson and Phoenix campuses, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, A.T. Still University, and accredited educational programs nationwide. The program receives roughly 150 donors per year (UA Willed Body Program).
Who can enroll: Arizona residents (including part-time residents) age 18 and older, with no upper age limit. Death must occur within the State of Arizona for the donation to be accepted.
Cost: Transportation within Arizona and individual cremation are covered by the program.
Cremated remains: Scattered respectfully by the program in the Arizona mountains and not returned to the family. Families may visit the Dr. Norman Koelling Willed Body Memorial Garden on the Tucson medical campus to honor their loved one (Arizona Daily Star).
Common restrictions that may preclude acceptance: obesity above the program’s weight chart, autopsy or major trauma (such as a fatal car accident), recent surgery, prior organ donation (other than corneas), certain infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, MRSA, sepsis, or tuberculosis, suicide, severe edema, family member objection, or the program being at capacity (UA Willed Body Program PDF).
Learn more or enroll: bodydonation.med.arizona.edu or call (520) 626-6083.
Banner Sun Health Research Institute Brain and Body Donation Program (Sun City)
A research-focused program that has contributed to landmark Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Lewy body disease research. More than 1,600 local residents have donated through the program (Banner Sun Health Research Institute).
Who can enroll: Residents of the greater Phoenix or Tucson metropolitan areas who are healthy enough to come in for annual clinical assessments during their lifetime. The annual assessment is part of the research, not just paperwork, and participants typically need a friend or family member to serve as a study partner who provides cognitive and functional information each year.
Cost: No cost to the family. Participants who have prepaid cremation at a funeral home of their choice may receive a $500 reimbursement (Banner Brain and Body Donation Program).
Family benefit: Autopsy reports are provided to the family, which some families find meaningful, particularly when the donor lived with a neurodegenerative disease (National Ataxia Foundation).
Important limit: The program must be able to begin donation procedures within 12 hours of death. Participants who pass away outside the metro areas may be removed from the program.
Learn more or enroll: bannerhealth.com or call (623) 832-6500.
Science Care (Phoenix-Headquartered)
A for-profit, accredited whole-body donation organization headquartered in Phoenix that places donors with medical training and research programs across the country. Science Care pre-registers Arizona residents and covers transportation, cremation, and return of cremated remains to the family (Science Care).
Learn more or enroll: sciencecare.com.
A note from us: Because Science Care is a for-profit company, some clients prefer to read independent coverage before deciding, including a 2017 Reuters investigation into the industry. We share that simply so you can do your own due diligence. The choice of program is entirely yours.
United Tissue Network
A nonprofit whole-body donation program serving Arizona donors at no cost, including transportation, placement with a medical education or research facility, cremation, and administrative handling. Cremated remains are returned to the family (United Tissue Network).
Who can enroll: Most adults age 18 and older, with no upper age limit.
Learn more or enroll: unitedtissue.org.
A Mayo Clinic note: Mayo Clinic’s Body Donation Program is based at its Minnesota campus only. The Arizona and Florida campuses do not have their own body donation programs (Mayo Clinic). This is a common source of confusion for Arizona clients who receive care at Mayo Clinic Arizona.
How This Fits Into Your Arizona Estate Plan
A few practical things we want every client to know before they sign their Health Care Power of Attorney:
You do not need to mention donation in your will. The DonateLifeAZ Registry, your donor card, your Health Care Power of Attorney, and your conversations with family are what carry the day.
Your Health Care Power of Attorney is the document we focus on. Under Arizona law, you can use it to authorize your healthcare agent to make or honor an anatomical gift, to specify the purposes you support, and to set any limits. We make sure the language matches your wishes and is consistent with whatever you have registered elsewhere.
Tell the people who will be there. Whole-body programs will not accept a donation over a family member’s objection, even when paperwork is in order (UA Willed Body Program FAQs). A short, kind conversation now can prevent a painful conflict later. Some of our clients hand a copy of this page to their adult children as a starting point.
Have a Plan B. Every donation program retains the right to decline at the time of death for medical, capacity, or logistical reasons. Your estate plan should include traditional disposition instructions as a backup. This is true even for the most carefully pre-enrolled whole-body donors.
Cost planning. While the donation programs cover their own costs, your family remains responsible for unrelated medical bills and for any funeral, memorial, or celebration of life they choose to hold (Donor Network of Arizona). For whole-body donation, families sometimes plan two gatherings: one shortly after death, and a smaller one when cremated remains are returned (where applicable).
Revisit your decision. Like the rest of your estate plan, your donation wishes deserve a fresh look after major life events such as a new diagnosis, a religious or spiritual shift, a move, or the loss of a loved one.
A Few Reflection Questions to Take With You
Before your signing appointment, it can help to sit with these for a few minutes:
Do I feel called to help a specific person through transplantation, or future generations of patients through education and research, or both?
Are there specific organs, tissues, or purposes I want to include or exclude? For example, some clients are comfortable donating organs for transplant but not their body for education, or comfortable donating for research but not for commercial product testing.
What do my faith and my family think, and have I talked with them about it?
Where will I most likely be when I pass away, and does my preferred program accept donors there?
What kind of service do I want my family to be able to have, and does my donation choice allow for it?
Have I told the people who hold my Health Care Power of Attorney what I want, and do they have copies of the right documents?
There are no wrong answers. Only the answer that is most truly yours.
Helpful Links at a Glance
DonateLifeAZ Registry
Arizona’s official organ, eye, and tissue donor registry
Donor Network of Arizona
Arizona’s federally designated organ procurement organization
UA Willed Body Program
Whole-body donation for medical education (Tucson)
Banner Brain and Body Donation Program
Brain and body donation for neurodegenerative research (Sun City)
Science Care
National for-profit whole-body donation, Phoenix headquarters
United Tissue Network
Nonprofit whole-body donation serving Arizona
Revised Arizona Anatomical Gift Act
The Arizona statute governing donor decisions
One Less Thing
When you have made your decision, we would be honored to help you weave it into the rest of your estate plan. That includes your Health Care Power of Attorney, your living will, your last will and testament, your trust if you have one, and the conversations with the people you love most. That is the part we are experts in, and we will handle it with the same care we bring to every family who walks through our door.
Rest assured knowing you have a legal plan in place for you, your family, and those you love most.
This page is provided for general educational purposes only and is not legal, medical, or financial advice. Emily R. Taylor, Attorney PLLC is not affiliated with any organ, tissue, or whole-body donation program. Program rules, eligibility criteria, and contact information change. Please confirm details directly with each program before enrolling. Reviewing your specific situation with us during a consultation is the best way to make sure your donation wishes are properly reflected in your Arizona Health Care Power of Attorney and the rest of your estate plan.