cadiva question

austin heart, BSN, RN · Jun 28, 2005

Do you mean cadavers? If so, I always thought that the body needed to be donated by the person signing papers before death.

suzanne4, RN · Jun 28, 2005

Most nursing schools do not use cadavers. Usually they are available only when there is a medical school affiliated with the university.

begalli · Jun 28, 2005

In the A&P lab at my school, we dissected a cadaver. There was no medical school connection.

It was an invaluable experience.

I'm reading the book STIFF, The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach right now. Quite an interesting and eye-opening read.

People can and do donate their bodies to science which end up studied in a variety of ways.

I don't believe for a minute that the bodies of immigrants are given to anyone but their family members unless the individual or their family has decided to do so.

allnurses Guide · Jun 28, 2005

Our Anatomy class had TWO cadavers every year and this at a community college. It was important for our professor to teach us HUMAN ANATOMY with humans. :) So, he used most of his budget for that.

p.s. I thought "cadiva" was a new kind of ice cream or something. :)

steph

begalli · Jun 28, 2005

I will add that I've worked for a county lab in the past. The bodies of people who have passed but may not have any family or even an identity are kept for a VERY long time in the coronor's or the county hospital's morgues depending on where and how they died. In the county hospital I worked, there was a cadaver in the morgue for more than 10 years!! Weird huh? There was some technicality keeping that body from being disposed of. It eventually was though, cremated.

Eventually, after a long period of time if the body is not claimed, they proceed with a burial or a cremation. They DON'T experiment on these bodies just because they're there.

There are high ethical standards surrounding this type of thing and it is taken very very seriously, at least in this country.

begalli · Jun 28, 2005

p.s. I thought "cadiva" was a new kind of ice cream or something. :)

I thought maybe it was a misspelling of Godiva...you know....CHOCOLATE! :)

mommatrauma, RN · Jun 28, 2005

In the United States, there are laws protecting dead bodies...The Anatomical Uniform Gift Act, discusses this...Do unethical things happen to dead bodies in the World, sure probably do, probably even in the US...there was actually a scandal involving a California University involved in some sort of body part selling...It is probably more common to happen in countries were laws aren't as strict...but at least in the US there are strict laws that attempt to protect bodies and prosecute those who do not follow the law...

BabyRN2Be · Jun 28, 2005

I thought maybe it was a misspelling of Godiva...you know....CHOCOLATE! :)

That's what I thought, too! CHOCOLATE!!

To add to the thread, I have several relatives who have donated their bodies to science (actually, the University of Iowa Health Sciences to be exact). Organ donation is very big up there. IU must have a great PR staff when it comes to body donations. If you go up to the cemetaries in Iowa, people actually have it on their headstones that they donated their bodies, some say which parts, especially if it's corneal related - this is just my observation.

My cousins have donated their bodies. One passed away in 2001. All the paperwork was done years in advance. The family calls a number once the person is deceased and they give instructions to the facility in order to make a good transport. Once they are at the Univ of Iowa, they may have the body in possession up to 2 years. One of my cousins told me that there was such a need for cadavers, it gave students a wonderful opportunity to see anatomy on REAL humans. You can you all the silicone, fancy computer programs, but nothing compares to a real human body.

The University pays for everything, even final burial (at the family's chosen plot) or cremation. All around it was a pretty good deal and was a win-win situation for both science and the family.

Now, maybe there are some immigrants who have chosen this for economic reasons, those who may not be able to afford burial costs, etc. But this is done with family involvement.

I seriously doubt if "Potter's field types" go immediately to a university.

Katydidit34 · Jun 28, 2005

In the A&P lab at my school, we dissected a cadaver. There was no medical school connection.
It was an invaluable experience.
I'm reading the book STIFF, The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach right now. Quite an interesting and eye-opening read.
People can and do donate their bodies to science which end up studied in a variety of ways.
I don't believe for a minute that the bodies of immigrants are given to anyone but their family members unless the individual or their family has decided to do so.

The laws regarding the use of cadavers in schools vary from state to state. I had a professor who was from California who said that they were able to use them for dissection. I live in Texas where only medical schools are allowed to use cadavers. It seems like there would be a uniform law in place that would affect all 50 states but I guess it's up to each one individually.

pricklypear · Jun 28, 2005

I took A&P at a community college - we had a cadaver (Fred). He was already dissected, but we took him out to look at whatever area we were studying at the time.

I know the University I went to used cadavers in their A&P classes. No med school there.

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Jun 28, 2005

In the A&P lab at my school, we dissected a cadaver. There was no medical school connection.
It was an invaluable experience.
I'm reading the book STIFF, The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach right now. Quite an interesting and eye-opening read.
People can and do donate their bodies to science which end up studied in a variety of ways.
I don't believe for a minute that the bodies of immigrants are given to anyone but their family members unless the individual or their family has decided to do so.

STIFF is one of the funniest books I've ever read. I had to take the dust jacket off (I go out to eat by myself and take a book to read) whenever I'd read it in public b/c I'd suddenly find myself laughing - and given that the picture on the cover is a foot with a toe tag on it I figured discretion may indeed be in order!