REGISTERED BONE-MARROW DONORS VIEWS ON BODILY DONATIONS

The attitudes of 463 potential bone marrow donors toward blood donatio n, kidney donation in life, organ donation after death, autopsy, and d onation of the whole body for anatomic dissection were surveyed, using a questionnaire that had previously been employed for assessing the a ttitudes of the public, The response rate was 96%, Three quarters of t he respondents were blood donors and recruited via the blood center, T he proportion that accepted the procedures varied between 24% for anat omic dissection and 97% for autopsy, Differences were small between in dividuals with positive attitudes and individuals who had also activel y taken steps to activate these attitudes, Compared with the public, t he bone marrow donors were more positive to all kinds of bodily donati ons, The conclusion is that if one is prepared to give from the body i n life, one is also prepared to give after death, The results may indi cate less death anxiety and fear of physical injury, and less fear of chaos either with or without altruism compared to the public.