MAKING PLANS( continued)
The Brain Bank coordinator can answer any questions about the donation process, assist in getting copies of the patient’ s medical records for use in ongoing research projects, and help locate a pathologist in your area to collect the tissue.
If the patient dies at home, in a nursing home, or with hospice, the funeral home or crematorium will be involved in arrangements for the tissue donation. At times, the procedure can be performed at the funeral home or crematorium. In other cases, it may be necessary to transport the body to a hospital or medical examiner’ s office for the procedure. If the patient dies in the hospital, be sure that the physician has placed an order in the patient’ s chart to have the tissue collected and sent to the Mayo Clinic Brain Bank. We emphasize that the most difficult step in this process is to identify someone nearby who is willing and able to remove, prepare, and ship the brain quickly after death. This is the most important reason to make arrangements in advance.
Cost of Brain Tissue Donation
Neither CurePSP nor the Mayo Clinic imposes a charge for any part of the brain donation process. However, charges are typically imposed by the technician removing, preparing, and shipping the brain, and the funeral home that transports the deceased and provides a facility for brain removal. This cost typically ranges from $ 500 to $ 2,000 and is the responsibility of the family.
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At CurePSP, we recognize that the expenses of the brain donation can be prohibitive for some families. A generous donor has contributed funds to create the CurePSP Brain Tissue Donation Fund. This has allowed CurePSP to provide financial assistance of up to $ 750 to families who wish to donate brain tissue but may have financial constraints. If your family needs assistance with the tissue collection costs, please contact Joanna Teters at 347-294-2871 or teters @ curepsp. org. We emphasize that this program has limited resources and is intended only for families whose financial situation would not otherwise allow brain donation to occur.