What This Statute Says
The department's discretion in placing an unclaimed body is bounded by two rules: a written request, and a preference order.
A. The department or its agent may take and receive or direct the delivery of bodies reported to it as provided by section 36-804 to hospitals, colleges and universities, physicians, surgeons and dentists it deems entitled thereto which have requested in writing to receive them, preference being given to hospitals and institutions of higher learning.
B. All expenses of delivery as directed by the department shall be paid by those receiving the body.
The preference for hospitals and institutions of higher learning means that medical and dental education programs typically receive priority over private physicians and individual dental practitioners.
When This Statute Comes Into Play
The provision is used in two contexts:
- Medical schools and dental schools that maintain anatomy programs and have submitted standing written requests under the article.
- Hospitals that conduct research or training and need cadaveric specimens.
The receiving institution pays all delivery costs, which keeps the public-health system from absorbing the expense.
What This Means for Arizona Families
This statute supports a quiet public benefit: medical, dental, and scientific training programs receive bodies that would otherwise be buried at public expense, and the institutions cover the delivery costs themselves. Families who would prefer a body to go to a teaching institution rather than a default burial often welcome the article's framework.
If you want your own body to be used for medical education or scientific research, the better path is a planned anatomical gift under sections 36-841 through 36-864 rather than relying on this article. An anatomical gift is consensual, documented, and not dependent on the body being unclaimed. Our FAQ on making your organ-donation wishes legally binding covers the planning steps. The same architecture extends naturally to whole-body donation for science. A healthcare directive can incorporate the gift directly, removing any question about the family's role at the moment it matters.