Garment Ann, Lederer Susan, Rogers Naomi, Boult Lisa
Acad Med. 2007 Oct;82(10):1000-5. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0b013e318149e986.
America's medical schools have long used human cadavers to teach anatomy, but acquiring adequate numbers of bodies for dissection has always been a challenge. Physicians and medical students of the 18th and 19th centuries often resorted to robbing graves, and this history has been extensively examined. Less studied, however, is the history of body acquisition in the 20th century, and this article evaluates the factors that coalesced to transition American society from body theft to body donation. First, it describes the legislation that released the unclaimed bodies of those dying in public institutions to medical schools for dissection, thereby effectively ending grave robbery. Then it discusses midcentury journalistic exposés of excesses in the funeral industry-works that were instrumental in bringing alternatives, including the previously unpopular option of body donation, to public consciousness. Finally, it examines the rise of body transplantation, the Uniform Anatomical Gifts Act of 1968, and the subsequent state of willed-body programs at the turn of the 21st century. Body-donation programs have gradually stabilized since and currently provide most of the bodies used for dissection in American medical schools. Relying as they do on public trust, however, these programs remain potentially precarious and threatened by public scandals. Whether American medical schools will receive enough bodies to properly educate students in the future remains to be seen.
美国医学院长期以来一直使用人体尸体来教授解剖学，但获取足够数量的用于解剖的尸体一直是一项挑战。18世纪和19世纪的医生和医科学生常常诉诸盗墓，这段历史已经得到了广泛研究。然而，20世纪获取尸体的历史研究较少，本文评估了促使美国社会从盗尸转向遗体捐赠的各种因素。首先，它描述了相关立法，该立法将在公共机构死亡的无人认领尸体交由医学院用于解剖，从而有效地终结了盗墓行为。接着它讨论了世纪中叶新闻界对殡葬行业过度行为的揭露——这些报道有助于让包括此前不受欢迎的遗体捐赠选项在内的替代方案进入公众视野。最后，它审视了遗体移植的兴起、1968年的《统一解剖捐赠法》以及21世纪之交意愿遗体项目的后续状况。自那时以来，遗体捐赠项目已逐渐稳定，目前为美国医学院提供了大部分用于解剖的尸体。然而，由于这些项目依赖公众信任，它们仍然可能不稳定，并受到公众丑闻的威胁。美国医学院未来是否会获得足够的尸体来妥善培养学生还有待观察。
