Human Body Donation Programme for Medical Science

If you have decided to donate your remains to the Institute of Anatomy of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, the Lithuanian medical community is very grateful for the honourable decision. It will enable medical students and doctors to study human anatomy.

To formalise your decision, please complete and sign 3–4 copies of the Last Will Statement Form for Body Donation. One signed copy should be sent to the Institute of Anatomy of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (A. Mickevičiaus g. 9, Kaunas LT44307). Please keep the second copy for yourself, and hand the other copies (if you wish) to your relatives or to the people you trust for them to keep the copies. This statement of your Last Will is confidential (not to be made public), so please inform only your family and/or your GP of your decision.

If you change your place of residence, please inform Asta Jurevičiūtė, administrator of the LSMU Institute of Anatomy, as soon as possible (email asta.jureviciute@lsmu.lt; phone number 8-37 327239).

Once we have received your completed and signed Last Will Statement Form, we will send you a special card to keep with your personal documents. We will be notified of your death on the phone by Your family members or other persons specified in your Last Will Statement Form. The Institute of Anatomy will take care of bringing the remains to the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. Outside working hours, at weekends and on public holidays, you can contact us on the mobile phone numbers listed in this information sheet.

Your remains will stay in the Institute of Anatomy for up to three years. This period of storage of your remains is determined by the characteristics of embalming the remains and the duration of studies of the anatomy of the human body. After the storage period of your embalmed remains at the Institute of Anatomy has ended, your remains will be cremated. The urn with your cremated remains will be buried in the gravesite of the Kaunas City Cemetery, where the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences buries and cares for human remains used for scientific research and studies. If you wish, for the urn with Your cremated remains to be buried in a different place, You must indicate this in your Last Will and Testament.

The Institute of Anatomy’s highly qualified experts are always adding to the Museum of Anatomy  collection of instructional exhibits, which are kept there for a long time and utilised to instruct medical students. Anatomy exhibits the various organs and sections of the human body.

Lithuanian University of Health Sciences takes full responsibility for the creamation of your remains, also the maintenance of your grave in the University’s gravesite in Kaunas City Cemetary in accordance with the provisions of Article 17 of the Law on the Burial of Human Remains of the Republic of Lithuania and the Description of the Procedure for Implementing the Programme for the Use of Human Remains for Medical Studies approved by the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences.

When completing the Last Will and Testament, you must indicate at least 1-3 relatives who will sign a commitment to notify the Institute of Anatomy of your death.

Attention: You can always withdraw from the donation of your remains to the LSMU Institute of Anatomy. It is enough for you to personally inform the Institute of Anatomy about this by phone, mail or e-mail. If you pass away outside of the Republic of Lithuania, if you die in an unnatural (violent) manner, if the circumstances surrounding your death are unclear and a forensic medical examination is necessary, or if you had serious infectious diseases prior to your death, your Last Will and Testament Agreement with the Institute of Anatomy will be void.