Over your dead body
Organ-donation wishes may not be honored
By Wendy Mott
Senior Editor
Once human bodies have left
their roles as temples of the soul,
they have few options.
Either they push up daisies, or
they’re turned into ashes and
scattered over a lake, adding only
slightly to the world’s pollution
problems.
But some humans, while alive,
choose another option: They
donate their bodies to science.
Mike Copple, director of the
Nebraska Anatomical Facility,
said about 150 Nebraskans sign
forms each year to donate their
bodies after death.
The fate of a donated body
can become quite complicated,
however.
Karen Risk, administrative co
ordinator of the Nebraska Organ
Retrieval Services, said that even
if a person has signed an organ
release form, the organs may not
be distributed without permission
from family members, as well as
a complete medical-background
check.
That means Mom, Dad or the
family physician can reject the
person’s wishes, while he or she
is in no position to argue.
Many restrictions also apply to
the donation of body parts, Risk
said. The person must die in a
hospital under certain circum
stances. And the person be under
age 70 to donate almost all body
parts.
In other words, people who
die the wrong way in the wrong
place are out of luck, and not just
because they’re dead.
These restrictions do not, how
ever, apply to donations of
bodies for anatomy classes and
research purposes.
David Woodman, visiting asso
ciate professor of biological
sciences at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, said anatomical
study is one of the most impor
tant uses for bodies donated to
science.
UNL’s biological sciences
department has only one cadaver,
or human body used for dissec
tion, but Woodman said it would
last for two semesters.
Woodman said UNL was lucky
to have the bodies.
“It is rather rare for schools to
have access to cadavers,” he said.
“Usually they have to rely on
models and textbooks.”
For his class, Pre-nursing
Human Anatomy 114, Woodman
said studying the bodies is
especially important because it
allows students to understand the
structure and functions of the
human body.
Joy Rishel, a senior exercise
physiology major, took Human
Anatomy 207, another class that
uses cadavers. She said the sight
of a dead human body didn’t
bother her, but other students felt
queasier.
The experience, Rishel said,
wasn’t what she expected.
“It almost looked fake,” she
said. “Everyone built it up so
much that when we finally saw it,
it wasn’t as big a deal.”
Rishel said the worst part of
working with the bodies was the
smell ot embalming chemicals.
“The formaldehyde smell was
so strong that it stayed in my
clothes the rest of the day,” she
said. “I think that’s what makes
most people sick.”_
Woodman said his students
did not seem to have a problem
working with the cadaver.
Although the embalming chemi
cals can be irritating to some
students, he said, they are as
inoffensive as possible.
Rishel said she thought the
body her class studied was old
and overhandled.
Although the body was
dissected before the students saw
it, she said, students had to
“touch and move and pull out”
various organs. The handling and
examination of the organs made
them hard to identify and work
with, she said.
Once the classes have finished
studying the bodies, they have
one stop left on their earthly '
journey.
Copple said schools returned
the bodies to the anatomical
facility, where they are cremated.
Unless the family requests that
the ashes be returned, he said,
the remains are interred __
in an Omaha cemetery —
their final earthly destina- I
tion.
The CRC
Computer Shop
has moved!
Before you head over to the Union to buy your computer,
read this ad!
The Computer Shop has moved to a bigger and better
location in the 501 Building on 10th Street. At the new location,
you can still buy Apple, IBM, NeXT, WYSE, and Zenith com
puters at significant student/faculty/
staff discounts.
Stop in and see more computers
and demonstrations than ever or give
us a call at 472-5785 for more
■ ■ ■ "'i
Nebraska Union [
I_ilLJJ
iHim
f The CRC Computer Shop 1
501 Building, 501 N. 10th St.
472-5785
^Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m. j
Bowlers!
Join the fun.
Join a league.
Spring teams being formed ndw
in the Nebraska East Unioi£%pTth 40.
League /
Husker \ / Mdhday, Januaryj>0f6:00 p.m.
Pin Pounders / Monday, January 20^004^1
Big'TTSoubies l Tuesday, January-2TT7:00 p.m.
Nite Owls \ \ Wednesday, January 22,7:30 p.m.
Collegiate— \ \ Thursday, Jammfy-23r^00rp.m.
Uniyersjly——— x^^ \ Thursday, January23, 8:00 p.m.
FTA.C. ^'^^VridayJjanuary24r8^)0 p.m.
Each league consistsof 6 teams, 4 persons per team (except for
Tuesday Doubles league which is 12 teams, 2 persons per team.)
Teams and individuals must preregister and pick up a copy of
the league rules at the North 40 control desk.
Students, faculty, staff, and friends are eligible.
For more information, contact:
Ray at 472-1776, or
North 40 at 472-1751
. t .r. • ■ . . , f , _ , r.. ; • - *-—jl. .. '■—».. — — -