Cadaveric Dissection: Should It Be Cut Out?

For over 500 years (Leung et al., Health Sci Educ Theory Pract 11(2):209-215, 2006), physical exploration of the human corpse (Segal, Int J Health Serv 14(3):379-396, 1984; Cribb and Bignold, Stud High Educ 24(2):195-209, 2006) has captured the public's imagination (Regan de Bere and Petersen, Soc Sci Med 63(1):76-88, 2006; McLachlan and Patten, Med Educ 40(3):243-253, 2006) as a symbolic rite of passage in the transformation of medical student to doctor (Regan de Bere and Mattick, Adv Health Sci Educ 15:573-585, 2010). Human dissection has been regarded as pivotal to learning anatomy (Böckers et al., Anat Sci Educ 3(1):3-11, 2010) yet has endured a tremulous past, at times placing the medical profession in disrepute. Since antiquity issues have been raised regarding the value and morality of the use of the human body, concerns that even in the twenty-first century have yet to be laid to rest. Indeed, over the last 20 years (Pandey and Zimitat, Med Educ 41(1):7-14, 2007), there has been a decline in dissection in medical schools: replaced in many instances with prosection (dissection performed by a trained anatomy demonstrator for observation by students), living and procedural anatomy, models, plastination, and computer-aided learning (CAL).