Death and the Body: Assessing Swedish Views on Organ and Full Body Donations and the Potential of Establishing a Human Taphonomy Research Facility in Sweden

Death and the Body will account for contemporary Swedish perspectives on death, burial, and donating one’s body or organs to science, while mapping the road to establishing a human taphonomy facility (HTF) in Sweden.

Taphonomy (the study of how organisms decay) research facilities that employ human donors are vital for understanding local decomposition variables, forensic training, and for ethical bioarcheology and forensic anthropology research.How to treat the body upon death has been a fundamental question to humankind.

Donating one’s body or organs to medicine, and more recently to HTFs, have emerged as alternatives to traditional burials. Willingness to contribute to society or interest in sciences are reported reasons for registering to donate.

Sweden has relatively low levels of organ donations and no taphonomic research capability, despite studies showing that individuals across contexts see great value in being able to donate their organs or bodies.

To target this shortcoming, this study will investigate views on death and burial that can reveal motives undergirding donation trends through a survey conducted amongst the general Swedish population and focus group interviews with registered donors.

In addition, drawing from intersectoral perspectives, the project will include participant observation amongst forensic practitioners, policy text analyses, and geospatial surveying to map the logistics, ethics, and feasibility of establishing a HTF in Sweden.By investigating and informing donation trends, the study will support EU strategies focused on improving health and healthcare.

In addition, a HTF in northern Europe would act as an international hub for archaeological and medicolegal research and could initiate collaborations with existing facilities located in the USA, Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands.

Research and training possible at a Swedish HTF can also support EU strategic goals related to peace, justice, and civil security.