Cadaver lab provides USD students with new experience

Anatomy 411 — human gross anatomy — has a clear set of rules for its students on the first day of class. Rule No. 1: students are required to make the first cut into the body placed in front of them.

“It bothered me at first,” said junior Jen Allen, a medical biology and chemistry double major. “It’s kind of like anything — once you get to working, your mind just kind of escapes and you kind of forget what you’re doing. I really enjoy it.”

The University of South Dakota houses the state’s only human body donation program on a college campus. Three times a week, students participate in hands-on experiments with donated human bodies in the basement of the Sanford School of Medicine.

Slowly, Allen is getting more comfortable working with her assigned cadaver.

“I’m very gracious that this person donated their body for me to learn. Because that’s a strange thing to do, no one really thinks about that,” Allen said. “I’m really grateful just for the educational process of it.”

Stuart Inglis, director of medical anatomy laboratories, co-teaches anatomy 411 with professor Scott Druecker. Originally from Canada, Inglis said he came to USD because it was “bang-on” the job he wanted.

“It is just an ultimately unique sort of educational experience for the students,” Inglis said.

Two other medical school courses involve cadavers — medical foundations I, which is cross listed with human gross anatomy, and a clinical anatomy elective for fourth-year medical students.

Inside the lab

Inglis said 70 deceased individuals rest in the Sanford School of Medicine, either in a lab or the mortuary. He estimated that USD receives around 36 bodies each year, but that fluctuates.

“Currently, and ever since I’ve been here, we have a situation where we’re almost at capacity the entire time,” Inglis said. “And it speaks to the success of the program, and we’re grateful for it.”

That being said, Inglis stressed that may not always be the case, so interested parties should register in case their passing comes at a time of need.

“Because we’re close to capacity most of the time, we can sort of sit back and look and say what are some of the beneficial ways that some of these donations can be used right now, and we can open it up for more learning opportunities for students,” he said.

Bodies from USD are also transferred to South Dakota State University, Lake Area Technical Institute, Briar Cliff University or Northwestern University, as long as donors approve it in their paperwork.

The donation involves prosecution — a more sculpted process than dissection that preserves a certain segment of the body for many years, Inglis said. Under close supervision, graduate or undergraduate students can participate in prosection. The number of prosections done each year varies depending on need and number of individuals willing to be a part of that process.

“It’s a multi-step process, but essentially what ends up happening is you dehydrate the tissue, but at the same time you impregnate it with a polymer-resin, like a plastic material, and then you allow it to cure so that it becomes hardened,” Inglis said. “So it becomes a permanent learning tool.”

Inglis said the body maintains its original form, but because all the water content has been taken out, it doesn’t dry out or decompose.

USD’s permanent collection is an ongoing process and is contributing to what Inglis calls an anatomical museum, which is essentially an extension of the cadaver lab. Only authorized individuals are allowed to see those preserved body parts, just like the cadavers.

Body donations cannot be made if an individual has certain diseases, like HIV or Hepatitis, or suffers from a traumatic death.

Respect and privacy are the donor program’s top priorities at all times. Students never know individuals’ names, and phones are not allowed in the lab. Inglis said each person who enters the lab must first listen to a speech, delivered by himself.

“They’ve entrusted us with their remains and we take that very seriously,” Inglis said.

‘Every life is sacred’

Inglis said the process of body donation begins when someone who is interested calls for more information. They are then mailed paperwork to fill out, and once completed, are considered registered for donation.

When the individual has passed away, a light embalming and memorial service are held in a funeral home of the donor’s choice. Afterward, the body is transported to USD by a lab technician. After a heavier embalming is done at USD, the shelf life of each body is five years.

Inglis estimates that it takes about two years for a family to get their family member’s ashes.

Every once in a while, a family member of the deceased expresses some discomfort.

“We’ve had letters come in from individuals saying that ‘I just want you to know that this is something that bothers me, I want to respect my mother’s wishes but I want you to be aware of the fact that I want this body treated with respect,’” Inglis said.

The USD donor program has never turned away a donation because of family members, but would do so if the donation would cause extreme uneasiness, Inglis said.

Every October, a student-run memorial service is held for families and students from the current and past semester of cadaver labs. Students read testimonials about what the donation meant or did for them, there is a candle-lighting service, and families share stories of their passed loved ones during a reception.

Inglis said this has a dramatic impact on the students, and helps family members as well.

“It’s nice in the fact that the majority of the family members that come, enough time has passed that the grieving process is over. It’s more of a celebration of life of the individual and what they were able to accomplish in making this donation,” Inglis said. “It also helps with a lot of family members that were unsure of the decision.”

She has not attended a memorial service, but Allen said it sounds like a great thing to be a part of.

“Every life is sacred, so when we get these donations, it’s really good just to remember who they were before and give the families the respect they deserve,” Allen said.

Going beyond textbook material

A select few students experience the cadaver lab based off curiosity and benefit to other studies. Junior Anna Hildebrand, a health science and psychology double major, is not required to take anatomy 411, but chose to do so anyway.

“I feel like that’s been a big advantage, to get that clinical aspect,” Hildebrand said. “I think it’s going to pay off in the long run.”

Hildebrand said she would recommend the class to other students who don’t necessarily have to take it. She believes it is a good opportunity to have as an undergraduate student.

“I just think there’s a lot you can learn from seeing real examples of what you’re learning about in a classroom,” Hildebrand said. “It kind of puts the textbook in real life.”

Working with a cadaver goes beyond what a textbook can teach, Inglis said. Students get a chance to see broken bones, smokers’ lungs, removed kidneys and other variations in the bodies they study.

“There’s just so much to it. Just the tangible experience, you can only get so much out of reading about it,” Inglis said. “So an appreciation for the variability is incredibly important.”

Inglis said the anatomy 411 class is new, but is gaining popularity, with enrollment doubling each year. He said that once it reaches capacity, students who are not medical biology majors and taking the class as an elective will be selected based on GPA, letters of recommendation and other factors.

After her experience in the lab, Allen said she plans on registering to donate her body to science someday.

“Now that I’ve gone through the process I know that they wouldn’t defile my body and they wouldn’t do anything bad to me,” Allen said. “Because I know that it’s so much more enriching to learn hands-on. Pictures versus the actual thing, it’s so different.”

Although Inglis said several students have made the same decision, many have a hard time thinking about themselves in that capacity.

“It’s a little bit strange for our students to understand, being so young. And even for myself — I’m turning 40 this year — I’m still not at the point where I really want to think about my death. But with the individuals that have donated their bodies, they’ve gotten to a point in their life where they recognize that everyone dies. ”

Inglis plans on donating his body someday as well. He joked that if he knows his time of passing is near, he’ll get the lab cutlines tattooed on his body.

“I’ll be a teacher to the end and beyond,” Inglis said.

(Photo: Stuart Inglis, anatomy 411 professor, explains to students features they would see on their experimental human bodies Feb. 10. Ally Krupinsky / The Volante)