The generosity which helps us learn

Editor - While I soon overcame the unease felt during my first dissection of a human body, it reminded me that I was not entering a laboratory. I was being helped by the generosity of others. Using cadavers does not involve clones of another species, but the bodies of other people. I realised that while bodies are not our persons, without them we would not be people.

The gifts of those who donate their bodies for medical education, and the understanding of their families, help us as students in our learning of anatomy. Not only is our study helped, we are taken beyond our assessments and essays to matters of further importance. In addition to learning about the structure and function of the human body, dissection classes led me to ask whether I would be prepared to give up my body, leading to thoughts of death and life.

A friend told me that it was the consideration of a person parting from a body that led to his choice of spiritual direction for his life. This may also have influenced his career path because he later studied and taught anatomy at this university. Study can lead to difficulty in combining knowledge and wonder-we may no longer be amazed by those concepts that are no longer a mystery. In studying the working of bodies-each unique to the individual yet unified in form to all other bodies-I retained a sense of wonder while gaining knowledge.

Life is a temporary gift that is to be used for the common good. I have a strong faith and appreciate giving in both life and death. The cadaver which was once of use to its owner had now been offered for the benefit of others, and I was among the beneficiaries. I hope that in the future others will receive, as I have received, an education that is enriched by people unknown to them. As we benefit after someone's life, we can perhaps begin to appreciate the affection of those who knew her or him as a person. Their thoughtfulness has given me an added responsibility to learn, for which I am grateful.

David Dean, first year medical student, St George's Hospital Medical School
Email: deanfamily@leighlancashire.freeserve.co.uk


studentBMJ 2001;09:261-304 August ISSN 0966-6494