From Sacrilege to Privilege: The Tale of Body Procurement for Anatomical Dissection in the United States

Anatomical dissection remains an integral part of most medical schools’ curricula, and in order to meet their educational needs, schools turn to a mixture of donated and unclaimed bodies. However, the procurement of bodies for anatomical dissection has not always been a simple task. The history of the cadaver supply in the United States, as in many other countries, is a story of crime, punishment, and legal dilemmas. The method by which medical schools obtain cadavers has affected not only anatomists and medical students, but all members of society. Methods of procurement through the centuries have been able to change only along with concurrent changes in societal perceptions of death and dissection. An appreciation of this history and these societal changes may benefit students in their struggles to come to terms with how their cadavers were obtained and how society has granted them the privilege to dissect a fellow human’s body.