Human cadavers have been used for anatomical study since the
days of ancient Egypt. In the 19th century, law limited the bodies
dissected by anatomists to those of executed criminals. But
increasing demand and the lure of profit hatched the morbid,
underground trade of grave robbing.
Then, the legendary 19th-century criminals, William Burke and
William Hare took body snatching one step further ““ they
murdered to give to science and to make a little on the side.
Burke and Hare were put to a stop in 1828, but the concept of
voluntarily donating one’s body to medicine is a relatively
recent one.
“Donations are definitely a 20th century
phenomenon,” said Anita Guerrini, a history of science
professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
“The idea that your body could be somehow useful rather
than just wasting it means that the body is losing its significance
as something sacred or holy,” she said.
Before the willed body programs of the 20th century, the demand
for human cadavers was also met by the unclaimed bodies of poor
people who died in public hospitals.
“There was the widespread assumption that because poor
people got free medical care in public hospitals, they owed it to
lend their bodies for demonstration and dissection after they were
dead,” said Dora Weiner, a professor of medical humanities
and history at UCLA.
Horace Magoun, the first chairman of anatomy at the UCLA School
of Medicine, founded the school’s Willed Body Program in
1950. Since then, an annual average of 175 people file paperwork to
donate their bodies with the intention of contributing to medical
education and research at UCLA.
Recent allegations of misconduct by UCLA’s Willed Body
Program and the arrest of the program’s director, Henry Reid,
show that the best intentions are not always followed.
Reid is accused of selling bodies for personal gain.
“I wonder how much people who donate their body knew about
how it was going to be used,” Guerrini said.
The UCLA Willed Body Program has a waiting list of 11,000 people
who wish to donate their body to medicine and the advancement of
science. This willingness to give up one’s body is
representative of a shift in social views and beliefs.
“Before, there was the idea that the body somehow was the
person, incorporated the personality and you didn’t want to
mess with it,” Guerrini said. “As we emphasize the mind
as the repository of the personality, the body became less
important.”
The use of human bodies for anatomical study has been fraught
with ethical dilemma.
“It’s always been a funny issue,” said David
Magnus, an associate professor in Stanford University’s
Department of Pediatrics and co-director of the Stanford Center for
Biomedical Ethics.
“The fact that we don’t have much control over
what’s going to happen (to our bodies) … has always created
a lot of questions,” he said.
In the past, problems arose when the intended wishes of the
deceased contradicted those of loved ones.
“There are often conflicts,” Magnus said.
“There have been fights over semen,” he added,
referring to a 1993 case in which a California court ruled that a
man’s frozen sperm was property of the court after he
died.
The concept of willing one’s body after death was intended
to decrease ethical problems that require the mediation of the
courts.
“The idea of voluntary donation removed the ethical issues
surrounding the use of the body or body parts … once you gave
your body away it was no longer yours,” Guerrini said.
“It was a commodity … parts of it could be bought and
sold on the market,” she said.
In recent years that market has expanded away from medical
education. Anatomical studies have been placed on the back burner
in favor of pharmaceuticals and therapeutics.
“Anatomy has lost ground compared to molecular biology,
immunology and the biotech industry,” said Michael Osborne, a
history professor at UCSB.
“Autopsies are valuable and anatomical instruction is key
for graduate students, but we’re really dealing with a field
that is in decline or a steady state,” he said.
Human cadavers and body parts are used by medical instrument
companies, crash test dummy labs and the military for the testing
of artillery.
“We do have more techniques for which the use of body
parts or tissue is helpful,” Weiner said. “As that
technology is diversified the demand grows.”
Meanwhile, the use and necessity of human cadavers has declined
in the realm of medical education.
“Human anatomy is not even done at some medical schools,
including UC San Francisco,” Guerrini said.
“That’s a big change ““ the idea that computer
modeling and doing virtual cadavers tells you enough.”
With the advancement of medical technology and a shift toward
the biotechnology industry, the medical school curriculum has
evolved.
“There’s just so much other information to be
learned,” said Fred Fox, a professor in the department of
microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics. “Med schools
have to consider what among the traditional information that has
been taught really is still the most valuable to have
taught.”
The expanding market of human cadavers and the diversion away
from medical education has resulted in a system with more loopholes
““ loopholes that Reid was allegedly able to find and exploit
for six years at UCLA.
“It seems pretty clear that this is a kind of abuse that
the current economic circumstances make more likely to
happen,” Magnus said.
“The only thing that’s changed is there are probably
higher incentives to do it now.”