A good friend of mine, Kenzie, was recently appointed an anatomy teacher’s assistant. So, naturally, as an enthusiastic T.A., she has taken it upon herself to teach even those students and individuals who are not enrolled in college anatomy a thing or two, myself included. During one of our discussions, the topic of body donors came up, and it was something I, an economics major, hadn’t thought much about. But in talking to her I’ve come to realize just how serious it is.
People donate their bodies to universities for medical and scientific purposes, such as research, study, practice and exposure for undergrads and medical students alike. These donors and their families show great selflessness by allowing their bodies and the bodies of loved ones to be preserved and then handled by students in order for them to learn and eventually save lives later on in their careers. The medical and donation communities understand, as I think everyone should, that these bodies must be treated with the utmost respect and gratitude.
Universities and medical institutions around the world have different ways of conducting their courses and showing respect for body donors. The U’s School of Medicine takes pride in honoring those who have donated their bodies by doing things like having memorial services at the end of a donor’s time there. At these services, which are attended by family members of the deceased, medical students speak and express their appreciation for the body donations. Ryan Watkins, a U medical student, said in his memorial speech, “Thank you to those who donated their bodies to science to provide us with medical education that cannot be replaced by a textbook, or by a video on YouTube,” according to an interview in an article in Deseret News by Cassidy Hansen. He went on to say that, while learning about the human anatomy, he was able to develop a greater appreciation for humanity. He said that “behind every cog and wheel of the human body, there is a person.” It is this sort of perception that I, as someone who intends to donate my body to science after death, likes to hear from undergraduate and medical students.
After talking to my friend, I took the topic to my mom, a physician, who took anatomy in medical school. She had a very similar viewpoint to Ryan’s and said that something she thought helped herself and her classmates respect the bodies they worked on was learning about them as people before learning about them as slabs of meat. She said that in her class each student was assigned an individual body, which came with personal background information, such as their names, where they were from, their professions, etc. A man named Hank was my mom’s donor, and she spoke fondly of him. He was from Tempe, Ariz. and worked as a schoolteacher until he retired. She said she thought that by providing information about the donors, class members were able to humanize the bodies on an emotional level, and thus it was more likely that they would treat them with as much respect as possible.
The U, however, does not do this. At least, the undergraduate anatomy class doesn’t. Kenzie told me her class was not given any personal information, and she thought it was better that way because students could focus on just learning from their donors. She expressed concern for any student who could possibly know or recognize the deceased if they were given personal details. I thought this point was interesting and understandable to a degree, and so did my mom, but classes may be run differently at different universities and between undergraduate and medical school programs. And differences don’t necessarily mean that one is handling its class better in regards to encouraging students to respect and appreciate the bodies they learn from. As long as the bodies are treated with respect, dignity and gratitude at all times, it’s all good.