Since 2021, the donation of bodies to science in France has been regulated by bioethical legislation. The main objective of this study is to assess the qualitative and quantitative impact of the new regulations on the process of body donation for scientific purposes. This assessment will specifically consider two major changes: the possibility of returning the body or ashes to the donor’s family, and the fact that donation process is free of charge.

This is a quantitative cross-sectional descriptive study conducted on 221 donors from the Alpes Maritimes center body donation (CDC) using an anonymous questionnaire included in the registration file, collected over 17 months (May 2024 to October 2025).

Eighty-two per cent of donors are over 65, with half of them being over 75. The gender ratio is 0.68:1. The main motivations are helping science (83.98%), post-mortem usefulness (61.17%), and gratitude towards medicine (30.58%). 80.10% of respondents did not want their body to be returned, and 36.89% of them were positively affected by the fact that the donation was free of charge. The study reveals that altruism is the predominant motivation, although economic factors (33.5%), simplicity (12.14%) and social isolation (6%) were also reported. At the Nice laboratory, requests for information increased by 18% in 2024, with registrations increasing approximately 35%, and the number of bodies received increased by 30%.

While the gratuity of the donation was a significant factor for some respondents, the possibility of the body or ashes being returned seems to have played a smaller role in their decision-making process. The significant increase in activity at the Alpes-Maritimes CDC over the last two years confirms that changes to the law have had a positive local impact on the number of donations and registrations. This study focuses on the donor and offers a different perspective on the donation of bodies to science than that of anatomists