MEDICAL MATTERS: Altruistic act benefits the study of anatomy writes MUIRIS HOUSTON
I’VE HAD a number of e-mails and letters asking me to write about donating your body to medical science. So I’ve been in contact with the staff of the anatomy department in my alma mater, Trinity College, for the latest advice on how you go about donating your body.
Giving your body for anatomical dissection is an altruistic act. As my correspondence suggests, it is a respected and socially acceptable decision made by a minority of people. It is also a highly regulated activity, with no room for some of the past’s questionable practices.
The year 1315 marked the first public record of dissection, which took place in Bologna, Italy. Visitors to Bologna University can still see the original anatomy theatre, which is fashioned steeply to allow all students have an unobstructed view of the dissection table.
Dissections were performed on the bodies of condemned criminals supplied to the medical faculty by the civic authorities.
However, as medical education expanded and the supply of human bodies for dissection was restricted, body snatching from graveyards became a lucrative activity for those dubbed “resurrectionists”. The most infamous were, of course, William Burke and William Hare.
An Ulsterman who ran a boarding house in Edinburgh, Hare hit on the idea of selling bodies to anatomists after the death of one of his lodgers. Assisted by Burke, another of his lodgers, he then turned to murder. The pair lured victims to the house, where they suffocated them. Hare turned King’s evidence and, in 1829, Burke was hanged.
An important outcome of such outrages was the British Anatomy Act of 1832, which awarded the medical profession rights to “unclaimed bodies” – in effect, those of workhouse paupers.
This legislation is still in force, although all donations are now voluntary, with donors coming from all walks of life.
So how do you go about it? You simply contact the anatomy department of one of the Republic’s medical schools (TCD, UCD, NUIG, UCC and the Royal College of Surgeons) (UL does not run a donor programme), which will send you an information pack. You can then visit the college and have any of your questions answered. If you are happy to go ahead, you formally indicate your wish to donate. No special legal formalities are necessary.
Your wish does not have to appear in a will. Nor are there any objections by the main religious groups. In practice, most people will have a normal church service. Then, instead of a burial or cremation, the body will be taken to the anatomy department. The body is then prepared by the department’s staff before being stored until the following September, when a new batch of students will begin their education.
The demand for bodies varies with time and from one medical school to the next. It’s probably best to look on the process as similar to filling out a donor card; you are indicating your strong wish to donate your body to science but with the caveat that, at the time of death, your body is suitable for teaching purposes.
The main reason why your remains might not be accepted would be in the event of a coroner requesting a post-mortem. The other principal caveat is that the department must receive the remains within 48 hours of death. And if you are an organ donor and your organs are used for transplant, then whole body donation is not possible.
Does having a real body to dissect make a difference? In my experience, it does. Being able to see the structures of nerves, veins and arteries helps your understanding of how the body works. Later in your career, when it comes to placing a drain in a person’s chest cavity or performing a lumbar puncture, a three-dimensional understanding of the body’s structures is important.
While computer programmes are now available that permit the “virtual” peeling away of body layers, there is something special about the respectful atmosphere of the dissection room and the altruism of those who lie before you.