Naming your cadaver

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every school i interviewed at named theirs
 
My cadavers were Norah and William (we were not told their last names). We were told their ages and what they died of- those details I don't remember very well (it was over 10 years ago) I think Norah was in her 80's and died of pneumonia.

Anyway, I agree that cadavers should be referenced by their first name, but I don't think that contact with the family is necessarily appropriate.
 
At my school after they are cremated the students have the opportunity to go to a memorial service and meet their family.. I know several people who did it and they said it was a beautiful experience. Naming them is a huge no no though, immediate expulsion from the class no questions asked.
 
Ashley1989 said:
At my school after they are cremated the students have the opportunity to go to a memorial service and meet their family.. I know several people who did it and they said it was a beautiful experience. Naming them is a huge no no though, immediate expulsion from the class no questions asked.
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wat

Why? We named ours Matilda. Seemed better to give her a name rather than just "corpse". Might not have been her name, but it helped us remember that she was a person.
 
VisionaryTics said:
wat

Why? We named ours Matilda. Seemed better to give her a name rather than just "corpse". Might not have been her name, but it helped us remember that she was a person.
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I think the opposite. They aren't pets to be named, and they were already given a name by their parents. They gave the school a huge gift, and I don't need a made up name to help me remember they're human, and personally I feel that if I do need that to help me remember then I don't deserve that gift.
 
Ashley1989 said:
I think the opposite. They aren't pets to be named, and they were already given a name by their parents. They gave the school a huge gift, and I don't need a made up name to help me remember they're human, and personally I feel that if I do need that to help me remember then I don't deserve that gift.
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And that's a perfectly reasonable philosophy. Immediate expulsion is not reasonable.
 
pkwraith said:
And that's a perfectly reasonable philosophy. Immediate expulsion is not reasonable.
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I didn't give you all the information and that's my fault; we sign a contract at the start of the class. If someone doesn't agree they're free to take the class at a different institution
 
We named our cadaver. We did this because a name humanizes and makes for ease of reference as opposed to "the cadaver" or "the corpse", and we are not given the actual name of the cadaver out of respect for the privacy of the donor.

I do agree that one does not actually need a made-up name to remember the humanity of a cadaver. You also don't need to awkwardly attempt to involve family members of the donor in a manner that was beyond the scope of the original donation agreement because of a hunch as how that might impact your clinical practice.

A face is enough for that. Failing that, nail polish that had been applied prior to death and still hasn't quite come off despite the journey that the cadaver since passing to make it to your lab. At my school, we are also told the career of the person who donated to our group. She was an artist.
 
One of the schools I visited said that they treated the body as their first patient and that they were being observed by the family. Basically treat the body with respect and don't do anything you wouldn't want the family to see
 
One guy at my old school took a picture of the cadaver and was chased down by the professor. They went all out after that and even taped dark paper in front of the window on the door before they brought them out.
 
QuizzicalApe said:
We named our cadaver. We did this because a name humanizes and makes for ease of reference as opposed to "the cadaver" or "the corpse", and we are not given the actual name of the cadaver out of respect for the privacy of the donor.

I do agree that one does not actually need a made-up name to remember the humanity of a cadaver. You also don't need to awkwardly attempt to involve family members of the donor in a manner that was beyond the scope of the original donation agreement because of a hunch as how that might impact your clinical practice.

A face is enough for that. Failing that, nail polish that had been applied prior to death and still hasn't quite come off despite the journey that the cadaver since passing to make it to your lab. At my school, we are also told the career of the person who donated to our group. She was an artist.
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And the memorial is always after the fact and only with families and students who sincerely want to take part in it
 
Ashley1989 said:
At my school after they are cremated the students have the opportunity to go to a memorial service and meet their family.. I know several people who did it and they said it was a beautiful experience. Naming them is a huge no no though, immediate expulsion from the class no questions asked.
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I don't believe this for a second.
 
tenndoc said:
One of the schools I visited said that they treated the body as their first patient and that they were being observed by the family. Basically treat the body with respect and don't do anything you wouldn't want the family to see
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An important difference between a cadaver and a patient: one is dead.
 
Ashley1989 said:
I didn't give you all the information and that's my fault; we sign a contract at the start of the class. If someone doesn't agree they're free to take the class at a different institution
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Sign a contract that says what? "I will not name my cadaver"? This is nowhere near a reasonable position.
 
tenndoc said:
One of the schools I visited said that they treated the body as their first patient and that they were being observed by the family. Basically treat the body with respect and don't do anything you wouldn't want the family to see
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What, like systemically skin and dismember a 93-year-old lady's corpse over the course of months?
 
tenndoc said:
One of the schools I visited said that they treated the body as their first patient and that they were being observed by the family. Basically treat the body with respect and don't do anything you wouldn't want the family to see
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Oh you mean like skinning them, slicing them up into little pieces and dismembering them? You'll find these kinds of comments are hilarious when you've actually gone through anatomy lab.

Edit: You beat me to it great minds think alike.
 
calvnandhobbs68 said:
Oh you mean like skinning them, slicing them up into little pieces and dismembering them? You'll find these kinds of comments are hilarious when you've actually gone through anatomy lab.

Edit: You beat me to it great minds think alike.
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They should invite the families in when the students are sawing through the skulls with power tools from Home Depot.

All this stuff about ceremonies and arbitrary rules is crap. Anatomy lab is a brutal process where you'll see your own mortality laid bare by seeing that humans are just so much meat and bone. The incredible gift from the donor is neither cheapened nor made sacrosanct by med school administrators' well-intentioned policies. The act of giving is enough.
 
Ashley1989 said:
Yeah pretty much. I dont find it unreasonable at all
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You misread what you quoted. He is saying that the contract is unreasonable.

Probably because it is trying to define an institutional thoughtcrime.
 
Ashley1989 said:
One guy at my old school took a picture of the cadaver and was chased down by the professor. They went all out after that and even taped dark paper in front of the window on the door before they brought them out.
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Yeah, pictures of the cadaver is majorly wrong.
 
QuizzicalApe said:
You misread what you quoted. He is saying that the contract is unreasonable.

Probably because it is trying to define an institutional thoughtcrime.
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I didn't misread. He asked if they wrote "I will not name the cadaver" in the contract. I said "yeah pretty much" and then he thought it was unreasonable and I said I don't think it was unreasonable at all
 
VisionaryTics said:
What, like systemically skin and dismember a 93-year-old lady's corpse over the course of months?
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or use the body for access to the HOV lanes, the skull to do shakespere with, etc
 
We named (or was told a name) because it allowed is to think about the person more than a rump roast, but more like a person who was generous enough to allow this educational action. It created a connection, allowed us to "feel".
 
HipChick said:
We named (or was told a name) because it allowed is to think about the person more than a rump roast, but more like a person who was generous enough to allow this educational action. It created a connection, allowed us to "feel".
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I think it's completely different to be told a name rather then naming the person.
 
There's this pretty interesting book called Stiff where a journalist writes about all these fates of corpses. The parts on the ones that go to anatomy labs were pretty interesting. Apparently there's a long history of corpses being obtained illegally, students taking disrepekful pictures that would anger families, etc.
 
Ashley1989 said:
I think it's completely different to be told a name rather then naming the person.
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It's different yes, but as long as the name is respectful, where lies the issue? We named one of our cadavers Charles and another Joan. We named Joan after Joan of Arc because we thought of her as a pioneer. Idk all of our names seemed respectful rather than "cadaver 7"
When further sterilized medicine IMO.

We were NEVER allowed pictures to be taken. That's just disrespectful and full of distaste
 
HipChick said:
It's different yes, but as long as the name is respectful, where lies the issue? We named one of our cadavers Charles and another Joan. We named Joan after Joan of Arc because we thought of her as a pioneer. Idk all of our names seemed respectful rather than "cadaver 7"
When further sterilized medicine IMO.

We were NEVER allowed pictures to be taken. That's just disrespectful and full of distaste
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To each their own. When I was very little (maybe 6?) my moms boyfriend took me into his lab and showed me the cadavers and told me about them and how he or anyone else for that matter wasn't allowed to name them. Then, the first college I went to they had that same policy and now my current university has the same one as well. I honestly think its because it was made such a huge deal to me growing up and throughout school and whatnot. I don't look down on anyone who names them, but I figure that since so many people seem ok with it i could chime in with a different opinion to keep things interesting 🙂
 
Is it true that most cadavers are homeless people?
 
Ashley1989 said:
To each their own. When I was very little (maybe 6?) my moms boyfriend took me into his lab and showed me the cadavers and told me about them and how he or anyone else for that matter wasn't allowed to name them. Then, the first college I went to they had that same policy and now my current university has the same one as well. I honestly think its because it was made such a huge deal to me growing up and throughout school and whatnot. I don't look down on anyone who names them, but I figure that since so many people seem ok with it i could chime in with a different opinion to keep things interesting 🙂
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So that's creepy.
 
Ashley1989 said:
To each their own. When I was very little (maybe 6?) my moms boyfriend took me into his lab and showed me the cadavers and told me about them and how he or anyone else for that matter wasn't allowed to name them. Then, the first college I went to they had that same policy and now my current university has the same one as well. I honestly think its because it was made such a huge deal to me growing up and throughout school and whatnot. I don't look down on anyone who names them, but I figure that since so many people seem ok with it i could chime in with a different opinion to keep things interesting 🙂
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I would have loved that!! But I was "one of those kids" too 😉 I don't think it's bad, I just don't see issues. What did you guys "call" your cadavers? Just numbers? Because ultimately that all we are (ss#)
 
QuizzicalApe said:
We named our cadaver. We did this because a name humanizes and makes for ease of reference as opposed to "the cadaver" or "the corpse", and we are not given the actual name of the cadaver out of respect for the privacy of the donor.

I do agree that one does not actually need a made-up name to remember the humanity of a cadaver. You also don't need to awkwardly attempt to involve family members of the donor in a manner that was beyond the scope of the original donation agreement because of a hunch as how that might impact your clinical practice.

A face is enough for that. Failing that, nail polish that had been applied prior to death and still hasn't quite come off despite the journey that the cadaver since passing to make it to your lab. At my school, we are also told the career of the person who donated to our group. She was an artist.
Click to expand...

Ditto. We were given age, cause of death and occupation. We weren't told names, but I called ours Jerry... just what he looked like to me. It felt better to me than calling him 'the body', 'the donor', etc. I think it's one thing to give your donor body a normal name in your head and another to call them Fat Albert or Bernie.

VisionaryTics said:
What, like systemically skin and dismember a 93-year-old lady's corpse over the course of months?
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Seriously.
 
HipChick said:
I would have loved that!! But I was "one of those kids" too 😉 I don't think it's bad, I just don't see issues. What did you guys "call" your cadavers? Just numbers? Because ultimately that all we are (ss#)
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We call them by groups, the students working on them. Any reference is "the cadaver" I totally think that if we were given a name to call them that's fine. I would be the first to admit that I have a different view on it and I'm sure it's coming across as nit picky and stuff to which I do apologize. I swear I'm not as uptight in person! I think the policy is in place so there's no discrepancies as to what name is appropriate and not appropriate. Yeah, it's a little uptight but if I gave myself to be studied I don't know if I would want a group of students taking it upon themselves to name and then dismember me lol

Not literally dismember but you get the point haha
 
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Ashley1989 said:
We call them by groups, the students working on them. Any reference is "the cadaver" I totally think that if we were given a name to call them that's fine. I would be the first to admit that I have a different view on it and I'm sure it's coming across as nit picky and stuff to which I do apologize. I swear I'm not as uptight in person! I think the policy is in place so there's no discrepancies as to what name is an appropriate and not appropriate. Yeah, it's a little uptight but if I gave myself to be studied I don't know if I would want a group of students taking it upon themselves to name and then dismember me lol
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no no not nit-picky! I was just wondering. I completely understand your view. I'm the kind of person that would want to send a pre-written letter to the students! Different POV are what helps keep me open-minded 🙂
 
HipChick said:
no no not nit-picky! I was just wondering. I completely understand your view. I'm the kind of person that would want to send a pre-written letter to the students! Different POV are what helps keep me open-minded 🙂
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Absolutely! And my thoughts on it aren't concrete it's helping me to see other points of view! I always was under the impression that it was a bad thing to do, but with what you're saying I'm starting to question my view on it. You do have great points 🙂
 
Are you guys serious? Personally I wouldn't give two shakes to what the people carving me up would call me. My dead body is not a person, or me, its just a hunk of meat. The people making these policies (instant expulsion) appear to be dealing with their own difficulties reconciling death and life rather than for the sake of some ambiguous greater good.
Maybe I'm just an outlier here, but I plan on donating my body knowing fully it will be just a tool for medical progress.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2
 
el poblano said:
Are you guys serious? Personally I wouldn't give two shakes to what the people carving me up would call me. My dead body is not a person, or me, its just a hunk of meat. The people making these policies (instant expulsion) appear to be dealing with their own difficulties reconciling death and life rather than for the sake of some ambiguous greater good.
Maybe I'm just an outlier here, but I plan on donating my body knowing fully it will be just a tool for medical progress.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2
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It's just different opinions. That's awesome that you're planning on donating your body. I'm on the organ donation list, they can take all they possibly can. But if I die an old lady with bad organs I will definitely consider it. A family member did that and it's a wonderful thing
 
We definitely named ours. It's a long standing tradition to name your cadaver. We had a memorial service recently for our cadavers' families and one of my classmates who spoke referred to her cadaver's "name".

I don't see it as unprofessional to name a cadaver. As long as the name is fairly innocuous and doesn't belittle the cadaver, I fail to see the problem.
 
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