Bodies by Bequest

Nothing is more important to a doctor's studies than the freshman anatomy class in which he learns how the human body is put together by taking one apart. But dissection of the dead has always filled nonmedical men with horror. Popes and emperors have forbidden it. Such great artist-anatomists as Da Vinci and Vesalius had to cut through layers of superstition and prejudice before they could use the dead to reveal the secrets of life. Ghouls such as Britain's famed Body-snatchers Burke and Hare committed murder to supply the anatomists' demand, and added the word "burking" to the language. Even today, in some Southern states, mothers threaten naughty children with "the night doctor will get you"--a reference to the ante-bellum breed of burkers.

This week, as 80 U.S. medical colleges were opening their doors to a record freshman class of 7,449, the shortage of corpses for anatomical study was acute in many areas. It is certain to get worse, as heads of anatomy departments well know, but they are afraid to talk about the situation. Medical men have had enough trouble with anti-vivisectionists, and anti-dissectionists could make more.

No Will, No Kin. U.S. medical colleges, scattered over 39 states, operate under laws providing that unclaimed bodies--usually, those of persons who die intestate and without known kin--can be assigned to them for dissection. Until recent years, the system worked well enough. Most of the corpses that went to medical schools were those of elderly and aged inmates of state institutions who had outlived family and friends alike. They had had medical care, and the cause of death was known, so there was no need for an autopsy. (Few vagrants reach the dissecting table because many die unattended and have to be autopsied--after which a body is useless for anatomy teaching. Also unacceptable: bodies mutilated in accidents or by amputation, or sometimes by cancer.)

While the necessary steps are taken to make sure that there are no kin or other legally qualified claimants for the body, it is embalmed. Many schools (or "body banks" representing all the schools in a metropolitan area) keep the bodies in cold storage for one to twelve months, to make sure that no belated claimant appears. In the anatomy class, the most practical number of students for each body is now put at four; one or two students usually work on one part while the others watch. The rest of the body is draped, and it is always treated with reverential respect. After dissection, the remains are cremated or buried.

Crowded Students. Most anatomy teachers believe that each team of students should dissect two bodies in the freshman year, but since many schools cannot get enough "anatomical specimens," the limit now is one. In many schools, the number of students who must crowd around a dissection is so high as to reduce the value of their training. In Tennessee there are ten students at each dissection. In Massachusetts, with three medical schools crowded into the Boston area, six or eight students commonly share in a dissection. The District of Columbia, also with three schools, is about as badly off. (Neighboring Virginia has more specimens than it needs, but they cannot be shipped across the state line.)

There are many reasons for the shrinking supply of anatomical specimens. More and more U.S. males are veterans, entitled to Government burial. Burial insurance is increasingly popular. Social-welfare measures and 15 years of prosperity have reduced the number of forlorn old folk dying in institutions. Most unclaimed bodies are of men--women are more concerned about burial, and therefore are more likely to make advance arrangements--so the schools are short of women's bodies. They teach female anatomy by letting students observe operations.

So far, only one workable solution to the problem has been offered, and it has been slow in winning acceptance. A Briton who took advantage of the system explained it bluntly in a letter to the Daily Telegraph: "There is a little-known way of avoiding the cost and misery of a funeral--a way that enables most of us to be of more use dead than alive. Simply bequeath your body to the nearest medical school . . ."

This is an extension of the plan for cornea, bone and artery banks, to which individuals may bequeath parts of their bodies. While the law has not interfered with these in the U.S., many state courts have held that a man cannot use his will to dispose of his entire remains. If a relative objected, no medical school would risk public disapproval by seeking to enforce such a will. In nine states,* however, laws have been passed specifically permitting these bequests. Georgia School of Medicine has received only one body in five years as a result of this provision. But in California the idea has had wider appeal, and the state's medical schools now receive as many as 200 bodies a year by bequest.

* Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maine, Minnesota, New York and North Carolina.

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