This is a really weird question, I know

[Wackie]

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but I sit here wondering about it.


How much do you think med schools pay for cadavers?😕

 

[Catalystik]

How much do you think med schools pay for cadavers?😕

People donate their bodies to medical science (and thereby avoid funeral expenses). One of the places they may end up is in a medical school anatomy lab.

 

[Quix]

I don't think they pay for them. IIRC, gross anatomy cadavers are donated (people willing their bodies to science). Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't recall ever hearing about a cadaver being bought.

 

[tennisguy896]

Med schools usually pay 1-2k per body because although they don't have to pay for the actual body, they do have to pay for the services used to prepare the body.

 

[foofish]

People donate their bodies to medical science (and thereby avoid funeral expenses). One of the places they may end up is in a medical school anatomy lab.

Not all people donate their bodies to science just to dodge paying for a funeral. Some people (including many doctors) donate their bodies because they actually care about science and medicine....

 

[crowman]

From a conversation with a mechanical engineering buddy who does seatbelt testing for a state body, when you donate your body to science, unless you stipulate otherwise, it can end up in a host of different places... He uses donated bodies for belt impact testing! I guess be careful what you wish for in the name of science because the NTSB even uses these very donated bodies in their tests which involve throwing bodies out of airplanes. Still further, many bodies are utlized by federal agencies in mock crime scenes. As far as cost goes, I beleive the bodies are picked out and paid for by most schools because there is a service that processes the bodies and there is a fee involved.

I think I am going to donate my body to science...

 

[Stolenspatulas]

$6.37 each from the supermarket, 4 for $20 if you buy at costco

 

[evade]

My school's Donated Body Program consists 100% of people who decided themselves that when they died, they were going to donate their body to my school. All cadavers were self-donations. It's nice, because it's what the person wanted, and you don't have to wonder if you're cutting up someone because their family donated them, or because they're indigent, or anything like that. Also, the people who are donating their bodies don't have to wonder what their body will be used for: they know.

 

[123880]

This is a true story about a friend's great-grandmother...

She willed her body to science purely to avoid the costs associated with funerals and burials and such. It was a topic that came up as she got older...ya know, the family could have a memorial service without worrying about having to spend lots of money. Well, the discussion changed when she turned 90. The gov't sent her a letter saying that she had reached the age cut-off for donations and they would not accept her body for science. (She lived in Canada) So she was cremated.

 

[Law2Doc]

This is a true story about a friend's great-grandmother...

She willed her body to science purely to avoid the costs associated with funerals and burials and such. It was a topic that came up as she got older...ya know, the family could have a memorial service without worrying about having to spend lots of money. Well, the discussion changed when she turned 90. The gov't sent her a letter saying that she had reached the age cut-off for donations and they would not accept her body for science. (She lived in Canada) So she was cremated.

Interesting. I can understand why you wouldn't be suitable for organ transplantation at age 90, but am not sure why you wouldn't be acceptable as a cadaver. Some of the cadavers I have seen were quite old.

 

[GujuMD]

I knew someone who knew someone who donated their body to science mainly to avoid the funeral cost.

 

[degoo_]

On the topic of cadavers, is it common in US med schools that students dissect the body themselves?
At UofT (toronto), they advertise that the dissections are done by the students and how great this is compared to other schools. I read on another schools websites that students watch, while someone else dissects the cadaver. Is this uncommon, do most students do their own dissections, or is it a perk of a particular school?

 

[Depakote]

On the topic of cadavers, is it common in US med schools that students dissect the body themselves?
At UofT (toronto), they advertise that the dissections are done by the students and how great this is compared to other schools. I read on another schools websites that students watch, while someone else dissects the cadaver. Is this uncommon, do most students do their own dissections, or is it a perk of a particular school?

you're referring to dissection v. prosection.

dissection. You dissect the body.

prosection. you watch somebody else dissect the body.

In the majority of US medical schools, small groups of students actually disect a cadaver. I believe prosection is pretty uncommon.

 

[Law2Doc]

On the topic of cadavers, is it common in US med schools that students dissect the body themselves?
At UofT (toronto), they advertise that the dissections are done by the students and how great this is compared to other schools. I read on another schools websites that students watch, while someone else dissects the cadaver. Is this uncommon, do most students do their own dissections, or is it a perk of a particular school?

Most US schools have student cadaver dissection in small groups of 4-6 students per body. Depends largely on the school's access to cadavers.

 

[stiffany]

On the topic of cadavers, is it common in US med schools that students dissect the body themselves?
At UofT (toronto), they advertise that the dissections are done by the students and how great this is compared to other schools. I read on another schools websites that students watch, while someone else dissects the cadaver. Is this uncommon, do most students do their own dissections, or is it a perk of a particular school?

So more and more schools are going to doing prosections where parts of the body are taken separately and dissected by someone else to show the features students need to understand. This is in part being done due to the sheer cost of running an anatomy lab in terms of getting the bodies. So, it depends on which school you go to in the US as to whether or not you'll do your own full dissection (Own being with three other people usually per body).

In terms of cadaver cost, UCLA mentions that each body costs $2600 in a memo where it discusses raising the cadaver fee (for students I wonder?) from $5,000 to $13,000 - why the really large increase I dunno. In an article in AEMJ on an EM course using cadavers for procedure practice, authors note that bodies cost between $800 and $3000 depending on the region of the US.

A great book about this (which I'm sure lots of people here have read) is Stiff. It's a book about cadavers and while some parts are kind of creepy, it goes into the history of dissection (i.e. grave robbing) and then also discusses other uses of bodies like for crash testing as well as some of the legal stuff behind it (and even discusses medical student use of cadavers and some of the recent changes in medicine surrounding cadaver usage).

 

[degoo_]

UofT advertises it as though it was something that sets them apart from other schools.

http://www.torontomeds.com/admissions/whychooseuoft.html

 

[Depakote]

This thread reminds me of a very funny conversation I had with my cousin after he finished Gross Lab.

"I think if I know I'm going to die in about a year or so, I'm going to will my body to a medical school and spend the year getting instructional tattoos...

like a little quote question over the appendix "ok, what's missing here?"

a few sentences explaining his giant tattoo on his back...

 

[billehbaw]

You might find this insightful:

http://www.examiner.com/a-521580~Life_after_death.html

 

[Jejton]

I don't think they pay for them. IIRC, gross anatomy cadavers are donated (people willing their bodies to science). Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't recall ever hearing about a cadaver being bought.

An interesting factoid - For most of medical history they were bought and/or stolen. Paupers graves, criminals, prostitutes, heretics.

 

[evade]

This thread reminds me of a very funny conversation I had with my cousin after he finished Gross Lab.

"I think if I know I'm going to die in about a year or so, I'm going to will my body to a medical school and spend the year getting instructional tattoos...

like a little quote question over the appendix "ok, what's missing here?"

a few sentences explaining his giant tattoo on his back...

One of the cadavers in my lab had a tattoo on his chest that read "Hi...come on in". No joke. It was a pretty new tattoo, too; maybe a few months, a year at most.

That really blew our minds the first day.

 

[Jejton]

Actually now that I think about it, not all bodies used in science are donated ( at least by the person him/herself while alive ). There is a univeristy - I believe in Tennessee - that has a huge study ( i think it is ongoing ) in forensic science. They study the process of decomposition under various circumstances so that this information can be used to determine time of death of a body. They have a huge property with open fields, forest, etc. and they leave bodies in all kinds of scenarios - lying in a ditch, in a car under a tree, in a car in the open sun, etc - and study the process of decomposition. Most of the cadavers used are not donated by families/people but rather unclaimed bodies from municipal morgues or such.

 

[KeyLime]

You should read a book called "Stiff". Its all about the history of cadavers.

 

[chad5871]

Actually now that I think about it, not all bodies used in science are donated ( at least by the person him/herself while alive ). There is a univeristy - I believe in Tennessee - that has a huge study ( i think it is ongoing ) in forensic science. They study the process of decomposition under various circumstances so that this information can be used to determine time of death of a body. They have a huge property with open fields, forest, etc. and they leave bodies in all kinds of scenarios - lying in a ditch, in a car under a tree, in a car in the open sun, etc - and study the process of decomposition. Most of the cadavers used are not donated by families/people but rather unclaimed bodies from municipal morgues or such.

This is called a "Body Farm." The FBI has a similar one in Northern Virginia.

 

[foofish]

My great aunt donated her body to HMS, and she'd joke it was so it could be said that she had gone to Harvard.

 

[Dianyla]

Thirding the recommendation for the book Stiff. It's a great read. Well, you know, if you like reading about dead people. 👍

 

[Topspin82]

A great book about this (which I'm sure lots of people here have read) is Stiff. It's a book about cadavers and while some parts are kind of creepy, it goes into the history of dissection (i.e. grave robbing) and then also discusses other uses of bodies like for crash testing as well as some of the legal stuff behind it (and even discusses medical student use of cadavers and some of the recent changes in medicine surrounding cadaver usage).

I read the book too! It was an excellent read (to my relatives however a bit morbid) but it was fascinating. I highly recommend it to anyone considering medicine. 👍