From the first day of gross anatomy lab, UCLA medical students
are taught to respect the cadavers they are about to dissect.
The March 7 arrest of Henry Reid, the director of UCLA’s
Willed Body Program, for the alleged selling of donated body parts,
has upset many medical students in its contradiction to the
principles they are taught.
“We’re trying to get through med school and
understand how to respect the people that we care for and this is
what we see happening,” said Vishal Agarwal, first-year
medical student and member of the UCLA Future of Medicine/Bioethics
Group.
“It’s sad that the errors of a couple people bring
shame to the whole program,” he added.
Though UCLA medical students are currently on spring break, many
are anticipating the reaction of their peers upon the return to
campus.
“The idea of working with a person’s body that was
once alive is a very emotional experience,” said Jenny
Saltzberg, a second-year medical student.
“There are definitely students out there that are
mortified by this,” she added.
Dissecting cadavers in anatomy lab has been a traditional part
of the first year of medical school at UCLA.
Students view the opportunity as an honor ““ one that has
now perhaps been tainted by Reid’s actions.
“As a student, I am so gracious to anyone who has ever
donated (his or her) body,” Ferrell said.
“There are other professors and professionals who have
worked so hard to be good educators. One person’s poor
choices are going to reflect on those other people.”
The implications for the faculty and students of the UCLA
medical school remain to be seen as the investigation unfolds. But
the events have revealed areas that necessitate reform.
“Obviously, we need a better accounting system and we need
a little bit better oversight than what has been happening,”
Saltzberg said.
But Reid’s abuse of the Willed Body Program for profit is
not shocking for some current medical students.
“We live in a world where nothing surprises me
anymore,” Agarwal said. “But I didn’t think it
would be so close to home, that somebody would take something so
good in its idea and turn it around so poorly for their own
benefit.”
Throughout the duration of the anatomy lab course, six
first-year medical students dissect a single cadaver in
rotations.
Most students who have gone through the class and worked with a
cadaver feel it is an invaluable and crucial part of learning the
reality of medicine.
“That’s the way you learn,” said Annie
Ferrell, a second-year medical student who took the anatomy lab
during her first year. “You can’t go from playing
Operation as a little kid to doing brain surgery. Anatomy lab is an
important stepping stone in that process.”
Students in the anatomy lab are shown a videotaped interview
with individuals who decided to donate their bodies to science,
giving them a better idea of where the cadavers come from.
Many students are grateful to these strangers and thankful for
their decision.
“I think it’s a real privilege to work with these
cadavers,” Agarwal said. “We’re getting the gift
of their life.”
When working with a cadaver, students can feel and touch the
parts of the human body ““ an experience that cannot be
replicated in textbooks.
“It goes a long way to understand a tissue that’s
fatty versus a tissue that has a lot of elastic … to feel how
light the lungs are,” Saltzberg said.
The recently revamped UCLA medical school curriculum, based on
bodily systems rather than individual medical disciplines, has
decreased the amount of direct contact this year’s first-year
students have with cadavers.
“I don’t see how you can teach anatomy without at
least a few cadavers,” Saltzberg said. “There’s
only so much a picture in a book can teach you.”
Ferrell, a member of the last class taught under the old
curriculum, also believes strongly in the educational value of
experiencing human anatomy hands-on.
“Learning by touching is so valuable in medicine, and the
first-year students only get a few hours a week,” Ferrell
said.
“With (the investigation) it seems like they’re
going to get even less, and that takes away from their
education,” she added.
Every year at the end of anatomy lab, the first-year students
hold a memorial and thanksgiving service for the people who have
donated their bodies to medical education.
Students write thank you notes to these individuals, and light
candles for each cadaver. The notes are then cremated along with
the bodies.
“At the end of the year, you don’t know how to deal
with the fact that you just cut up someone,” said Ferrell,
who was involved in the planning of last year’s service.
“It’s a nice way to end the year and bring closure
to the students as well as the person.”