In watching the documentary, The Body Donors and reading the article, How to Donate Your

Body to Science, I was able to learn directly from individuals who have donated their bodies to
science. Through following the lives of Diana and Mike, I gained immense respect for their
journey and those who volunteer to donate their bodies. To me, the decision to donate is to
volunteer your body to contribute directly to the development of medicine. For this reason, I plan
on donating my body for dissection and anatomical advancements. Out of comfort, I will place
restrictions on the purpose of dissection as I would prefer it to be for private research only. This
is because I would like it to be as private with as few people having access to it as possible.
Although it would be rewarding to contribute to the education of students, the idea of a
classroom with multiple students dissecting one body makes me uncomfortable. Thus, the idea of
a group of students using my body as "practice" for dissection instills a sense of fear in myself. I
found this to be a conflicting subject and decision because on one hand, once deceased, I simply
see my body as a combination of the various body systems. However, when watching The Body
Donors documentary series, I was able to observe the setting the volunteered human bodies were
in. This made feel very uneasy, similar to the medical student in the documentary who had to

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take a step away from the dissection once realizing the reality of it.

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My decision to donate my body for dissection was based on my wish to contribute to medicine
and the development of scientific research. As a current science student majoring in Biology, I

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am aware of the importance of research and innovation in anatomy studies. Body donation
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allows doctors to stay current with advancements from innovative medical breakthroughs
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through research. In particular, whole body donations can be used by practicing surgeons for
surgical training and technique development (Orsini et al., 2020). It also allows surgeons to
explore different methods to perform procedures including transplants, replacements, and
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effective minimally invasive surgical techniques. Through having access to human bodies,
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researchers are able to assess the health effects of diseases and potentially find cures to diseases.
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For example, the human brain is studied to improve our current understanding of cognition and
to treat brain disorders. Module 2, The Fabricated Body: History and Philosophy of Anatomy has
also largely influenced my decision-making because of the information provided about the
history of anatomy (Cline, 2021). As described in Section 2.2, Anatomy in Western Antiquity,
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human dissection has come a long way. During the classical period, systematic human dissection
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could not be performed because of the lack of access to human bodies for study largely due to
religious prohibitions. It was in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries that anatomy experienced
a change, fostered by legislative changes, decline of religious teaching, and reactions to criminal
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violence or epidemic diseases (Evans, 2001, p. 15). This can be seen in Figure 1 where an
anatomy lesson is being conducted in the fifteenth-century. Through this module, I have learned
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how far our society has come in anatomy studies and have developed a greater appreciation for
human dissection. Hence, it confirmed my decision to volunteer my body as I want to contribute
to further scientific advancements in society.
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When deciding whether I would want the purpose of the dissection of my body to be private or
public, the module was particularly helpful. As written in Section 6.2, Body Donation, dissected
human bodies are normally only seen by a privileged few, including students, pathologists, and
police personnel (Cline, 2021). However, with new technological innovations, deceased human
bodies are much more accessible in the public. For example, Nicole Angemi’s Instagram photos

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 provided the public with access to gruesome autopsy photos. These images are open to anyone
and can defeat its educational purpose through simply being a spectacle. By reflecting on these
autopsy photos, I thought of the lack of consent and respect for the bodies being dissected. This
struck me when reading the news article, Fury as Pathologist Assistant who Posts Autopsy
Photos Fury as Pathologist Builds Up Half a Million Instagram Followers by Posting Gruesome
Pictures of Dead Bodies and Fetuses WITHOUT Relatives’ Permission (DailyMail, 2015). In
Figure 2, one of Nicole Angemi’s Instagram posts displayed an autopsy of an 18-year-old
woman who was raped and murdered. This was saddening because I imagined this being myself
or a family member, which was sickening. Although the access of autopsy photos can educate
more people within the fields of pathology or anatomy, its exposure to the public eye who may
use this to satisfy their morbid curiosity made me very uncomfortable. As mentioned in the
module, these technological advancements “make it possible to safely display entire corpses in
public and to send photographs of dead bodies viral with a single click” (Cline, 2021). While
some people see this as a positive because everyone gets access to bodies normally hidden from
view in hospitals and universities, others, like myself, argue that this kind of public
representation has a lack of respect and has little educational value. Therefore, I decided to place

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restrictions on the purpose of dissection; for research and private use only.

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I asked my older sister, Zora for her opinion on her willingness to donate her body for dissection.
Zora did not hesitate to donate her body for educational and research purposes. She explained to

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me that as a teacher, she greatly values education. Thus, she thinks it is crucial for students to be
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able to learn how to dissect and operate on human bodies to build a stable foundation of their
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knowledge. Zora described this hands-on experience as essential to learning the basic anatomy
and uniqueness of each human body. She trusts that as long as medical students are supervised
by demonstrators, including surgeons, body donations for educational purposes can only lead to
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positive results. Zora also believes that donating her body to the public can spread awareness for
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the importance of human dissection in the advancement of medicine. When reflecting on her
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decision, it made me reconsider my stance on the restrictions I have put in place for the purpose
of dissection. I now realize how important hands-on dissection is for the education of medical
students as they will be better equipped for medical procedures. As a result, human dissection is
crucial to both education and research purposes. Through considering this in my decision, I will
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be contributing the future of successful doctors who can further advance anatomy studies.
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 Figure 1. Professor reading from Galen sits high above the dissectors in a fifteenth-century
anatomy lesson.

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Figure 2. Nicole Angemi’s post of an autopsy of an 18-year-old woman who was raped and
murdered.
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References

DailyMail. (2015, October 22). Pathologist Nicole Angemi Instagrams pictures of dead bodies
and fetuses. Daily Mail Online. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3283933/I-t-
believe-detached-humanity-Outrage-pathologist-half-million-Instagram-followers-posts-
gruesome-pictures-dead-bodies-fetuses-online-without-relatives-permission.html.

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 Cline, C. (2021). Module 2: The Fabricated Body: History and Philosophy of Anatomy. History
and Philosophy of Health and Healthcare.

Duffin, J. (2001). History of Medicine: A Scandalously Short Introduction. Isis, 92(1), 140–141.
https://doi.org/10.1086/385058

Orsini, E., Quaranta, M., Ratti, S., Mariani, G. A., Mongiorgi, S., Billi, A. M., & Manzoli, L.
(2020, December 17). The whole body donation program at the university of Bologna: A
report based on the experience of one of the oldest university in Western world. Annals of
Anatomy - Anatomischer Anzeiger.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0940960220302041?
dgcid=rss_sd_all.

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