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University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, December 3, 1991
Cadavers bring life to human-anatomy classes
By Christine Laue
Special to the Kansan
The tattooed man lies dead on the stainless steel tank. His open chest reveals two lungs blackened from his smoking.
KU students say donated bodies are an advantage to studies
After noticing the black-spotted lungs and enlarged liver, possibly the result of a drinking habit, she imagined what he could have been like and then nicked a suitable name. Duke
"We decided he was a motorcycle-type guy," said Cauvus, Tulsa. Okla., senigr.
Duke is one of six cadavers in use in this semester at KU human-anatomy observation and dissection laboratories. The cadavers are provided by the department of anatomy and cell biology at the University of Kansas Medical Center through the wiled-body program.
A variety of donors
About 200 to 300 bodies are donated each year, said Marilyn Kuehne, administrative assistant of the willed-body program.
There is no common type of donor, nor is there a singular reason why people decide to donate their bodies to medical research and education, she said.
Kuehne said donors came from every stratum of society and for numerous reasons.
Some people do not believe in funerals. A few donate their bodies because their families cannot pay for a funeral.
Phil Padden, co-owner of Warren-Meelwain Mortuary in Lawrence, said bequeathing a body avoided funeral expenses that could cost up to $8,000. The donor's next of kin pays for transportation of the body from the place of burial and often, a memorial service without the body.
He said the price of donating a body without conducting an act was similar to the cost of performing without giving consent.
Kuehne said the majority of donors bequeathed their bodies to science for altruistic reasons rather than to save money. By using their bodies, they help educate students.
"They want to try and have some lasting effect, she said.
David Alexander, assistant professor of entomology, said the use of cadavers allowed students to learn the locations of body structures such as veins, muscles, organs and bones. Students get a different view than what a textbook provides.
Since size and placement of a body's structures vary from person to person, examining six cadavers allows students to see such differences, Alexander said.
Nancy Mah. Topeka senior, said it was beneficial to use cadavers in her dissection lab course.
"It's a lot better that we get to use cadavers than plastic models," she said.
Alexander said plastic models did not show the variations in different bodies and did not omit some details.
Another advantage of cadavers instead of plastic models is price. Anatomy courses at KU pay the Med Center $500 to $600 for each one, Alexander estimated.
The initial expense of purchasing models is much more than using cadavers, Alexander said. A model including a torso, arms and legs would cost about $2,500.
"It would cost us five times our annual budget to switch over to models," he said. "From year to year, it's a lot cheaper for us to use cadavers."
Randy Eaton, a Washington senior who is a student in the dissection lab course, said he was thankful he had the opportunity to work with cadavers.
Learning in labs
"If you're going to learn the most you can, you need cadavers," he said. "I know a lot of cases where students don't get that opportunity."
Many smaller colleges do not offer laboratories using cadavers. Eaton said.
Kuehn said some universities had ended their willed-body programs.
"We're really the only body-donating program in the Midwest," she said.
Most of the bodies come from Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, she said.
Since transporting a body a great distance can be expensive, the Med Center recommends that donated bodies be sent to the nearest institution.
Becoming a donor
Prospective donors must fill out a vital statistics information page and a certificate for bequeathing a body, which requires two witnesses.
The forms are distributed to hospitals, funeral homes and nursing homes, but donation is not accepted.
Donors have two options for the final disposal of their remains. After the University has used the cadavers, it is required by law that they send the remains back to the Med Center. The remains are cremated and may be sent to the donor's family or friends or buried at a yearly service at Oak Hill Cemetery in Lawrence.
Donors range in age from 50 to 80, she said.
Children are not accepted and teenagers only occasionally
The Med Center reserves the right to refuse a willing body at the time of death if the person had a communicable disease or if a prolonged period of time has elapsed since death.
The Med Center suggests attaching a brief medical history to the bequeath forms and signs.
Alexander, who is the human-anatomy lecturer, already has signed the back of his driver's license requesting donation of his organs to science. He said he also would consider donating his body to the Med Center.
"When I'm done with it, someone else could get the use of it," he said.
Some people have qualms about donating, but the thought of somebody dissecting his own body does not make him squeamish, he said.
"I think Kill's it on a deal, he said,
Jim Walker, Nickerson junior, said he had gained not only knowledge from Alexander's lab but also respect for the donors.
"Why they made the decision that would benefit others is something to be respected," he said.
Causey said that she overcame her uneasy feelings in the lab but that she could not imagina*
What she can imagine, however, is a man wearing a black, leather jacket with a cigarette in his mouth. Although his organs show he had a few bad habits, Causey said she always would appreciate the gift of the man she called Duke — the gift of himself.
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