Viewpoint - Teaching Life ... After Death
The Anatomical Education Program helps tomorrow's health
professionals understand how the body works, thanks to the generosity
of donors.
IU School of Medicine's Anatomical Education Program is charged
by the State of Indiana to provide for the acquisition and distribution
of human bodies for use in health science education programs at
institutions of higher learning in Indiana. The program, which is
administered by the IUSM Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology,
is the only one of its kind in the state.
Human bodies donated to the program are used for the education
of medical, dental and allied health students, residency training
programs, continuing education programs and research throughout
Indiana. They are not used for transplant purposes, nor does the
program sell bodies, organs or tissues to any agency for use in
organ or tissue transplants. By law, neither can donated bodies
be provided ? under any circumstances ? to medical schools in other
states.
Bodies used for teaching are obtained entirely through donations
to this program, which typically receives about one?hundred?fifty
body donations each year. Although adequate to meet past needs,
our program, like many medical schools around the nation, has an
increased need of donations.
The Anatomical Education Program accepts only whole body donations
and is administered separately from programs that allow donation
of organs and other tissues. Bodies can be accepted for use even
if the eyes have been donated to an eye bank; however, if other
organs or tissues have been donated or if an autopsy has been performed,
the body cannot be accepted.
Once the body has been used for teaching purposes, which can take
from eighteen months to two years, it is cremated. At that time,
the remains can be returned to the family or a designated mortuary
upon request. If the family does not wish the remains returned,
they are buried in a designated area at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.
Each October, before interment of donors' remains, a memorial service
is held at the Peace Chapel at Crown Hill Cemetery, with family
and friends of the donor invited to attend. On those gentle rolling
hills, we say goodbye to donors, we thank them for their generosity,
and we celebrate their lives.
David B. Burr, PhD, is chairman and professor of the Department
of Anatomy and Cell Biology. Additional information about the Anatomical
Donation Program can be obtained by calling (317) 274?7450 or via
email to wilson@anatomy.iupui.edu.
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