Human Cadaver and Its Importance to Science - Coursework Example

Renata H. Campbell Jeffery Smith Biological Issue March 14, Human Cadaver and Its Importance to Science Introduction The dissection concept for acquiring knowledge on the human body structure was started by barber-surgeons in the 15th century mainly to demonstrate its various structures. The first medical student to dissect and continue with the cadaver as a professor was Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) and gradually its relevance was realized in the medical field. The importance of dissection enhanced once autopsy was accepted as an ideal parameter to establish the causes of death in a patient. A cadaver or a dead body in a medical context can be used to refer to a human body that is being used for medical purposes. There are a variety of beliefs from different cultures surrounding the respectful disposal and handling of the dead, and cadavers. Many people may not know this but innovations in the field of forensics, medicine, ballistics, technology and even weaponry, innovations have been achieved with the aid of the human cadavers. Early uses of Cadavers in Science For more than 200 years, cadavers have been used in medical schools for training. Over this period of time, the means of preserving and acquiring the cadavers have changed drastically. The first cadavers legally used were the executed criminals who were being punished for their crimes. This was encouraged by a belief among Christians that the souls from bodies that were initially dissected never went to heaven and by then few people actually offered their bodies for science. Due to the decrease in the number of criminals being executed at that time, it became common practice to rob grave so that the market could be maintained. The tradition of dissecting criminals continued well into the 18th and 19th century when in Scotland and England anatomy schools became popular. Criminals were the only available cadavers, and anatomists were regarded as no better than executioners were (MacDonald 2). As the popularity and demand of the study increased, anatomy schools started to use grave robbers to steal the bodies from the graves to get the specimen to work with. Technically, grave robbers were people who stole from the deceased jewelry. However, it was not a crime to steal a dead body. Body snatching was actually encouraged by some anatomy instructors and sometimes students dug up bodies as a bad joke or paid their tuition in corpses. In fact, some respected instructors of anatomy dug up the bodies themselves. An example is the 1818-convicted anatomist Thomas Sewell, who was charged for exhuming corpse for his studies, even though he later became a personal physician for three American presidents. William Harvey is also another Anatomist who went as far as even dissecting members of his own family, mainly the father and sister. He later became accredited for the discovery of the circulatory system (MacDonald 4). By 1828, anatomists sort out alternatives to get the bodies. London based anatomy schools, at that time, employed their own body snatchers in permanent and contract basis mainly during peak seasons. This period was when the body’s decaying process was slowed down by the cold winters. About 312 bodies could be dug up by a group of six or seven people. Per year, the average body snatcher made approximately one thousand dollars, if this number is compared to the average unskilled labor of that time this is ten times their annual earnings. During this time, stories started and spread about the murders made for the profits of the cadaver’s sales. Two of the most infamous culprits in history are Hare and Burke. Sixteen people were supposedly murdered by them over the next nine months and their bodies were sold to different anatomists, once they realized the profits they could gain from the cadaver’s sales. Even though they became infamous, their actions impacted the cadaver’s studies positively. Body snatching by the 1890s became less common and by the 20th century it had almost disappeared. Preservations and embalming of cadavers became more advanced and medical schools education improved. There was no longer any need for students to rush over the dissecting of a body in fear of decomposition. These dissections were complete and orderly. By healing and diagnosing more people, the medical profession received new esteem. Cadavers came in larger supplies, as the profession gained momentum and respect and overtime body snatching has become an almost non-existent practice (MacDonald 4). Contribution of cadavers to science in modern times There has been a huge contribution to research, science and development from the human cadavers. Human cadavers have been used by automotive companies to improve on safety by the way of inventions of airbags and seatbelts. The cadavers have been used in the automotive industry as test dummies since the 1930s. Their main role is to show how much can be endured by the human body in an actual accident, mainly by hitting all parts of the car from the windshield, air bags and steering wheel. On the human cadavers, ballistic research has been conducted with the hope of creating weapons and bullets someday that are non-lethal, as well as in creating safer shoes, gear and clothing. In Surgery Human cadavers have also been successfully used to study and learn about how different ailments can be alleviated using surgery, the different functions of organs, and blood circulation. Through the experiments done on human cadavers, doctors are now able to perform blood surgeries and transfusions safely, not only to transplant donor organs but also to patch ailing organs. Cosmetic surgeons have also been helped by the human cadavers to hone their skills in cosmetics and facial surgery. In addition, the cadavers have also contributed to better understanding of numerous diseases in the sense that they can be the main difference between a cure and a life threatening disease. Professionals can use these types of cadavers to better understand how illnesses and diseases affect the human body. For example, a professional or doctor in a colo-rectal program could use studies done on a human cadaver to learn how to work or handle a colon cancer patient by really being able to look after and repair an infected patient’s colon. Medical Purposes When used for medical purposes, cadavers may be dissected for purposes of cadaveric donation or educational studies. As an age-old practice in medical training, dissections are aimed to prepare the student to the idea of handling the dead and prepare them practically to be able to handle the practice. It was extremely challenging historically to obtain cadavers for dissection because many people were not for the practice, and many people held different beliefs. However, today modern schools have the advantage of numerous donors who understand the significance of the practice in the scientific community. Currently, dissection utilizes cadavers that are in environments mainly focused on education and other cadavers, which have been safely preserved. Many issues that surrounded dissection initially centralized around abuse of bodies and disrespectful treatment. While these did occur historically, in the modern medical practice, they are extremely uncommon since the student is prepared on how to respect the cadaver and handle it while on practice (Gayatri and Garg 332). Medical Research Apart from dissection, the cadaver has helped with other medical research. For example, surgeons can practice new skills and hone their skills on cadavers. The cadavers have been used to develop useful tools such as mine proof boots and body armor, and enhance vehicle safety. This is mainly because performing such dangerous research on living humans is impossible and without actual human data, the simulations would be useless. Standards can be set using the cadavers and that can be used to study the various impacts, effects and events it has on a living human body. Useful tissues or cadaveric donations can also be harnessed from cadavers, which can later be implanted in recipients. It is not possible to receive an organ donation from a cadaver, while it is possible that procedures and donations like skin grafts, bone and eyes can be borrowed from a matching cadaver. Cosmetics Another contribution of the cadavers is on cosmetics. For instance, surgeons are able use parts of the human body to sharpen their skills before actual practice. For example, in the cosmetics case the cadavers head is used a lot to help improve facial work. Some of the studies practiced under facial work include facial reconstruction, nose jobs and facial lifts. An example of its implementation and contribution is on the adrermal filler and alloderm, which is mainly made from cadaver-donated tissue that has had its epithelial cells stripped but still has its collagen structure. It is extensively used in both reconstructive purposes and cosmetics. Forensics The human cadavers have also made an impact on the forensics studies. Often, anthropology students place the cadavers in the outdoor labs by to study the environmental effects on decomposition. It has helped better the scientific techniques or tests connected with solving a crime, mainly what is known as forensic. Therefore, a donated body can aid in solving a murder case in the sense that through its analysis, the scientists can be able to know the time of death, sex and age through the forensics. Through studying different forces at work after a murder, forensic scientists are able to effectively determine possible cause of death, time as well as identify unrecognizable bodies and faces due to its decomposition capabilities. The cadaver can then help the forensic scientists, evaluate DNA bio-chemical odor analysis and degeneration. They can also study how a person gradually decomposes over time. A scientist can also develop better safety precautions for airplanes and determine cause of the crash through studying human cadavers, and pieces of the wreckage. Analysis shows that people are gradually accommodating the idea of using human cadavers as test dummies on such cases because it is cost effective since many families often have issues paying for the funeral service bills, they may opt not to have one at all. On the lower end currently, the average price for a funeral is roughly seven thousand dollars. Therefore, instead of putting themselves in debt, people find donating the bodies as a valid option since they believe it would be used for a worthy cause while at the same time saving the facilities and family a lot of money (Gayatri and Garg 333). Impact studies Scientists also use the cadavers for impact studies. The impact analyses are done to test the limits of impact or force a human body may encounter or endure before attaining critical injury in an accident or contact. In such, impact based research cadavers will be put in front of many situations that are normally considered as dangerous. For example, through such studies, scientists can effectively expound more on brain displacements or deformation during impact in bad car accidents or mine explosions. Through them, data can be collected on the extent of the human nervous systems and brain on impact before serious damage is done. William Burke and William Hare Burke was born in Urney in 1792 and lived through to 1829, in the very west of County Tyrone, near Strabane, part of the Province of Ulster in the north of Ireland. After serving as an officers servant in the Donegal Militia and trying his hand at a variety of trades, he left his two kids and wife in Ireland and in 1817 immigrated to Scotland while working for the Union Canal as a navy. It is then that he met Helen MDougal. He later worked as a cobbler, laborer, baker and weaver. Hare was born in Poyntzpass in 1792 near Derry or Newry, both located in Ireland, Ulster province. He migrated to Scotland and worked as a Union Canal laborer like Burke. When Hare moved to Edinburgh, he met a man named Logue in the West Port where the lodging house he managed was situated. Hare married Margaret Laird, Logues widow in 1826, when Logue later died. Hare worked on the canal, while Margaret Hare continued to run the lodging house previously owned by the husband (Roughead 12). While body snatching was a chosen career for others, some actually got involved in it accidentally. William Hare and William Burke, who became infamous for murdering victims and actually selling them, unknowingly took the trade in cadavers to the extreme by selling their victims to the medical establishments. The west port murders or Burke and Hare murders as they came to be known were Edinburg, Scotland serial murders done between 1827 November -1828 October. William Hare and Brendan "Dynes", both Irish immigrants were directly linked to the killings. Burke sold the corpses of the 17 murdered victims to provide the needed material for the dissections. A private anatomy lecturer Doctor Robert Knox was their purchaser. He had his students drawn from Edinburgh Medical College. Their accomplices included Hares wife, Margaret Laird and Helen MDougal, Burkes mistress. The word "burking" came from their infamous means of killing their victims. It means to purposefully compress and smother the victim’s chest (Roughead 13). Historical background In British medical schools before 1832, legitimate cadavers were insufficiently unavailable making them insufficient for teaching and studying anatomy at the time. Edinburg University, by then, was an institution re-known globally for medical sciences. In the early 19th century, as the medical science began to flourish, demand rose sharply for the human specimens but subsequently there was a sharp reduction of the only legal supply of cadavers, which were mainly the executed criminals because of the Bloody Code repeal experienced in the 19th century (Roughead 13). On a yearly basis, this shortage resulted in only about 2 to 3 corpses being available for the many students to work with. This environment created the ideal situation and motivation for criminals who were ready to obtain the needed commodities at any means. The activities of resurrectionists or body snatchers gave rise to particular public revulsion and fear as the practice became rampant. A Murderous Career Both Hare and Burke were Irish immigrants who settled in Edinburgh. They sold the body of one of Hare’s lodgers who had died while owing him money. They sold it to an eminent surgeon Dr. Robert Knox for use in dissection. Realizing the potential market that the supply of fresh bodies for dissection held, the two collaborated with Margaret Laird, Hare’s wife and Helen McDougal, Burke’s partner and went on to commit sixteen more murders, for which only McDougal and Burke stood trial. The Hares escaped prosecution mainly by turning in the Kings Evidence that granted them a pardon. On only one account of murder was Burke found guilty. The McDougal charges were never proven, and as such, she was acquitted of the charges. In 1829, Burke was hung in front of enormous crowds. Hare was plagued by the murder scandal, even though he tried to move away from Edinburgh to start a new life. Everywhere he went, he was always faced by an angry mob. There were reports of McDougal being beaten and stoned by angry crowds (Roughead 10). Legacy of Burke and Hare Burke and Hare were not the only people affected by the consequences of the murders. Dr. Robert Knox career suffered for the same reasons even though he said he had no prior knowledge of the murders and the victims being supplied to him. To continue working, he had to move to London. At the Edinburgh University Medical School Anatomy Museum, Burke’s skeleton is still preserved, while his body has been used as an example in dissection classes. In the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, the reason that such grave robbing and murders were prolific was that there was a demand for bodies that could be used for medical science. The Burke and Hare case reaction was a main factor for the enactment of the1832 Anatomy Act and this allowed science to receive bodies as donations. The influence that the two had on the passing of this act is actually the biggest impact that they have had on the field (Roughead 7). Conclusion Within medicine the study and use of human materials is implicit since there is no possible way to avoid research on humans. The main question should then be how this should be done as opposed to if it should be done even though, human material use is not always justified. A framework that balances the aspirations and needs of this should be built to help in decision making upon the bodies that should be used for therapeutic purposes or those to be used for conducting research. This is because such practices might go against the aspirations and needs of those people who should benefit from the therapy or research. In such circumstances, clearly formulated ethical guidelines are essential in realizing that there will always be tension between the ascribed status to the human persons and human body and the clinical, scientific or cultural value being ascribed to that material. Works cited MacDonald, Helen. Human Remains: Dissection and Its Histories. London: Yale University Press, 2005.1-4 Rath, Gayatri, and Krishna Garg. Inception of cadaver dissection and its relevance in present day scenario of medical education. Journal of the Indian Medical Association 104.6 (2006): 331-333. Roughead, William. Burke and Hare (second edition W. Hodge and Company, Ltd., 1948) 7- 18 Read More