It is a gift that keeps giving.
The Body Donor Program at Ohio State not only provides hands-on experience to students, but it allows donors to give — even after they have passed away.
Sometimes the process can be difficult for family members to accept; however, the transition can become easier once they realize how a deceased relative is educating students.
Connie Young, the Body Donor Program director, has discovered a way of easing family members’ pain.
She tells the story of a daughter who was unhappy with her mother’s decision to donate her body. The woman had been a teacher during her lifetime and understood the educational significance of the program.
“After we talked for a while the daughter said to me, ‘I’m so amazed that my mother is going to continue to teach. She had taught for 50 years before her death because that is what she always wanted to do,’ ” Young said.
The cadaver lab allows students to enhance what they have learned in lectures — providing an opportunity to see exactly how the muscles and organs function.
“Everything they learn in books and computer programs are two-dimensional. The cadavers are students’ only chance to see individual variation,” said Dr. Susan Turner, senior anatomy lecturer. “There are not many undergraduate programs in the country where students can see the cadavers. Ohio State has always been a teaching institution, so we are lucky to have a program like this.”
The lab is broken into two sections: One side provides models and X-rays the students can study, and the other has the cadavers that are used for enrichment of lecture material.
Although both graduate and undergraduate students work in the cadaver lab, only medical students actually participate in the dissection process.
Undergraduate students observe the inner structure of the body in small groups as a teaching assistant explains the function of each muscle or organ.
“It’s pretty amazing looking at every single body part. Who knew the body was so complex?” said Emily Dy, a senior in nutrition with an emphasis in premedicine. “We only really get to look at them, but I wouldn’t mind spending more time in the lab.”
Everyone over 18 can donate their body to the Department of Anatomy and Medical Education, however, not all bodies are eligible for study. A body that has been autopsied, embalmed or has contracted a communicable disease will be refused by the department.
There is no cost to register for the program, but family members are responsible for memorial services.
Two forms must be completed before one can become a body donor — an Anatomical Bequeathal Form and a cremation authorization form from the university.
Once the donor dies, family members are responsible for contacting the university, who then works with the funeral home to transition the body to the lab.
The primary responsibility of each funeral home is to secure vital statistical information, such as death certificates and attaining a burial transit permit which is required for all burials, cremations and donations.
“We couldn’t operate without (the funeral homes),” Young said.
Although there is no specific time frame that cadavers might be in the lab, family members can choose to have the cremains returned.
“Some are returned and some aren’t,” Young said. “Sometimes when people sign-up they say no, but their children may want them back, so we can change and give them that option. We don’t own our bodies — the next of kin has the right to say they want the remains back.”
