Stiff Remains

Recently, a friend passed my way a novel that she knew would spark my interest: Stiff; The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. In this short book, Roach explores the different paths that await cadavers of people who decide to donate their bodies to science. After all, the majority of the population probably is not aware that donating your body to science is an option and that not every body is autopsied and thrown in the grave. (So as a side note: In reality, not even every body gets autopsied; in fact, one of the things I learned while at the coroner’s office was that the only bodies that get autopsied are those that have noticeable trauma or the cause of death is unclear.) However, while many people choose to be organ donors on their state identification, many don’t know exactly what that means; I sure didn’t when I agreed to it. All of this is discussed in Roach’s book. What many people don’t realize is that when you agree to be an organ donor the likelihood of that happening is rather slim. According to Roach, in order to donate your organs you have to be what is known as a beating heart cadaver. Essentially what this means is that your heart is still beating but you are completely brain dead and therefore have no possibility of recovery. I thought that was interesting just because

So, if I decide to donate my body to science what happens? Well, that’s not something that you choose, but as Roach mentions, you can find yourself in a variety of places: a car company test facility, at the hands of plastic surgeons, on a body farm, or on display. Some of the more common uses of bodies are those that involve doctors and/or plastic surgeons. Let’s face it; the best experience you can get is by actually doing something. Therefore, the best possible option is to allow both plastic surgeons and doctors to use donated bodies to get that experience. If you were to poll the general public, my guess is that the majority of people would rather a doctor have experience on a body than just from observation and reading a text book. I know I sure would! Many people do realize that this is the most common place a donated body ends up, but what Roach’s book explains is the more gruesome points—such as the fact that often for plastic surgeons they will cut the body into workable pieces; i.e. facial surgeons work with only the head which I found quite interesting. I was also fascinated by the fact that major car companies use bodies in several tests—not just crash dummies. Logically it makes sense; a crash dummy cant bleed, it’s made out of plastic after all. Additionally, the car companies use these donated cadavers to determine how much force the body can sustain. They do this by slamming machinery into say the shoulder. Perhaps the reason this is not well known is because of the taboos associated with cadavers and that this is seen to be disrespectful. However, I have to say that the two fates that interested me the most were being on display and something called the body farm.

Perhaps you have heard about the exhibit “Body Worlds” that has been a cause for much attention. A minor caveat here—if you have not seen this exhibit, you need to, it is one of the most incredible things I have ever seen! Anyways, this display consists of donated bodies that have been posed and dissected and then plasticized. This was an effort to demonstrate the beauty of the human body, and what a success it has been. Another scientific endeavor to learn about the human body is the body farm. Now, I had seen a segment on television about the body farm before reading Roach’s book so I was excited to find more information on it. At the University of Tennessee, the Anthropology department receives donated bodies and they photograph them, set them up in a particular situation, and leave them in the woods surrounding the university (don’t worry its fenced off). Now you may be wondering, “why on earth would you just dump a body outside and leave it?” Well actually this is research that will someday help me to better do my job as a forensic pathologist. They are studying the affects of decomposition on the body. So they both video and photograph the bodies as they go through the different stages of development. This is impertinent in my field of work and more specifically to me since I will be determining time of death, and having the latest information about how to narrow that down is crucial—it could put a criminal away, or let them go free.

I have often thought that graduating from Trinity in three and a half years would be beneficial so that I could start Medical School promptly. However, the process of applying to Medical School makes it so that you do not enroll until a year after application. So, if I keep up with my studies, I hope to graduate in three and a half years and possible spend a semester at the University of Tennessee working on the research at the body farm, or working with the Coroner in Colorado Springs, Colorado. So while I would love to work on the body farm or in something closer to my intended profession, I must continue getting my information base in Biology and Chemistry for now.