The History and Use of Cadavers Essay

Visiting the cadaver lab at EVMS was an amazing experience for me. I was a little nervous by the fact that i’ve never been to one and i was worried whether or not i would be queasy over the sight of a dead body. However, once i entered the lab, my heart was filled with wonder and adventure. I was glad to learn about the anatomy of the human body. Right when I entered, I expected the formaldehyde to be so strong that i would be distracted from paying attention to the cadavers. Luckily, the smell wasn't bad at all. I was surprised to see how all the cadavers’ heads were sliced in half; apparently, the medicals students at EVMS made those incisions. The sight caused an indescribable feeling that came to mind to know that these people were once

The origin of these organs concern people on both a medical and moral level. In a

When we visited the Mutter Museum, I was mesmerized by the amount of fascinating artifacts, collection of specimens, models, as well as the extensive variety of medical instruments. The College of Physicians of Philadelphia is replete with some of the preeminent artifacts and sets of anatomical specimens in America. As a student, I was deeply intrigued by nearly everything. I was astounded by the amount of richness and diversity that makes up the history and culture of medicine. Out of all the exhibits in the Mutter Museum, I was strongly inclined and intrigued by the exhibit of the plaster cast and conjoined liver of the “Siamese twins” Chang and Eng. These two Thai conjoined twins were born in 1811. They came to the United States in 1829 to tour and perform. Chang and Eng eventually married sisters and bought adjacent farms near the lands of North Carolina during the early 1840’s. This exhibit along with countless number of expositions of the malformations of human beings ignited a very strong interest for the subject of teratology. And it was at that moment, as I stared into the unbelievable anatomy of these incredible creatures, that I made the decision of pursuing the subject of teratology for this particular research essay.

“I think people are morally obligated to allow their bits and pieces to be used to advance knowledge to help others” (Korn). Different people have opposing opinions on the topic of whether or not patients or doctors own the body tissues after it’s been removed from the patient. Ownership is the act, state, or right of possessing something. Tissue ownership is different from ownership because once it leaves your body, you no longer own it. Contributing your tissues to the science world is superior because you can speed up medical advances, avoid litigation, and become a better individual by contributing to science and society.

accidents. I like this chapter a lot because it offers other benefits of cadavers than just dissection.

At Joseph’s request his body has been donated to the University of Toledo, College of Medicine, for the advancement of science.

Although grave robbing was not as large an issue after the passing of the Anatomy Act, the field still had its darkest times ahead. During the 19th and early 20th century, anatomists took advantage of the most disadvantaged sections of society including the mentally ill, people of color and poor immigrants (Cutter 2002, Halperin 2007). While these atrocities are worth remembering, anatomy truly reached its lowest point during the regime of the National Socialist Party. Corpses from concentration camps, mental facilities, and prisons were all sent to aid in research and teaching (Kaiser 2013). Throughout history, anatomists have put their morals aside for the sake of scientific advancement, but it is clear that this reached its most inexcusable

Starting soon after the achievements of Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, in 460 BC Greek medicine and treatments began to intensely develop and improve due to anatomical research. Ancient physicians and anatomists such as Erasistratus, Herophilus, Galen, and Andreas Vesalius conducted dissections on live and dead organisms to lead them to make important discoveries about the anatomy, functionality, and overall health of humans. With passing time, each person built off of their influences work by testing validity, expanding on research, and all the meanwhile making their own discovers. However, human dissection and vivisection experiments were limited due to conflicts with ethnics and the ways of the Catholic Church. There was also the

Anatomy, the study of the human body, is a discipline of the medical sciences that flourished beyond precedent during the 17th and 18th centuries in Western Europe. During this time, many physicians, anatomists, and doctors began to not only investigate anatomy more seriously, but also to teach anatomy to more people. Dissections of cadavers became more common at learning establishments and more accepted by the general public, and by government authorities. Anatomical theatres were constructed for the mass teaching of dissections, and any and all bodies from criminal hangings were donated as cadavers to the universities. As trends grow and become popular problems are bound to become known. In anatomy, this problem was the shortage of cadavers

Cadavers are also used as crash dummies in car accidents. Researchers get better results when testing on dead humans rather than fake dummies. The use of cadavers in car safety testing has advanced our knowledge of car injuries greatly, leading to knew innovations and saving

“In 1984, Baby Fae received a baboon heart at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California, and she lived for 20 days. After the failed chimpanzee transplant, Dr. Hardy continued research, and in 1987 his team transplanted a pair of lungs into a 29-year-old patient, leaving the heart in place.” Cooley. Many people did not agree with animal organs being in there bodies. The event brought criticism from all quarters—legal, ethical, moral, religious, financial, and governmental. On January 23,196, Boyd Rush, the patient Hardy has identified as a heart recipient, was dying of heart failure. Because of difficulties in obtaining a donor human heart, however, Hardy decided to proceed with a chimpanzee’s heart, which beat for ninety minutes before failing. Hardy then had prepared himself for a certain amount of criticism, but he thought most of it would come from the general public. He was defamed at national surgical meetings and his clinical works was questioned. The criticism omitted after Journal of the American Medical Association published a June 1964 paper where Hardy detailed the strict guidelines he used in selecting both donor and recipient, his work in the labs leading up to transplant, and the strong scientific basis for the act. A national moratorium on organ transplantation followed Hardy’s heart transplant because doctors still has to overcome the problem of organ rejection, but his pioneering work played a vital role

Once the all the internal organs have been examine the pathologist may return all but the portions they have saved to the body

This sparked my interest in anatomy and pushed me to want to find out more. This year I am also doing an extended project with the title ‘Should Organ Donation be Opt in or Opt Out?’. I believe that this will broaden my knowledge around anatomy and allow me to develop my independent working skills. As part of my research I have spoken to a lady who has been through the process as her husband was an organ donor and has first hand

After examining Greenburg v. Miami Children’s Hospital Research Institute, I agree to a certain extent that research on specimen fundamentally differs from research done on living human bodies. My reasoning for this claim, however, varies from the one given in Greenburg, where the researcher’s economic interests were called into question and found to be irrelevant (Dolgin & Shepherd 65, 734). Instead, research on human living body warrants the risk of immediate danger to the subject, while research including specimen does not. The two forms of research do require informed consent, making them similar in this way but complicated in the sense that informed consent has to be redefined or specified for specimen centered research.

Live animal dissection have been recorded in ancient Greek writings from as early as 500 BC. Vivisection (dissection of living organisms) was first practiced on humans in ancient Rome, but it was soon prohibited and thus the need for animal subjects.