Summary
Highlights
Medical students learn anatomy from their 'silent teachers' – cadavers. These deceased individuals provide invaluable lessons that books cannot, offering a tangible understanding of the human body. A solemn prayer is often said before dissection, honoring those who donated their bodies for the advancement of medical knowledge, emphasizing the respect given to these first patients and teachers.
Professor Bundoc, chair of the Anatomy Department, highlights the challenge for first-year medical students to learn from 'silent mentors.' Lab technicians at UPCM are responsible for embalming, cleaning, and preparing cadavers. This demanding role requires a strong constitution due to the nature of handling bodies and the chemicals involved, such as formalin, and more toxic substances for soft embalming, necessitating full PPE and gas masks.
Medical students share their experiences, describing the initial shock and the need to view cadavers as humans, not objects. The documentary addresses cultural taboos in the Philippines, where family and religion play a significant role, making the use of human bodies for medical study a sensitive topic. Despite these reservations, students like Haz and Nanah from Marawi emphasize the necessity of cadaver study to broaden medical knowledge and serve their communities.
UPCM faces a severe shortage of cadavers, with the student-to-cadaver ratio dramatically increasing from 6:1 before the pandemic to 20:1, which significantly impacts the quality of education. This scarcity is exacerbated by an increase in medical students due to government scholarships and more medical schools competing for limited body donations. This lack of practical experience on cadavers raises concerns about the quality of future medical graduates, as practicing on them is deemed essential for doctors to safely use new technologies and instruments.
To combat the cadaver shortage, UPCM is implementing innovative solutions like 'immersion tables' that preserve cadavers for 3-4 years by soaking them in a special solution. Another advanced method is 'plastination,' which turns human tissue into plastic models that can last for 100-200 years. While highly effective, plastinated models are expensive to produce and import, costing millions of pesos, but offer detailed, long-lasting anatomical references.
Dr. Raquel Fortun, one of the only two forensic pathologists in the Philippines, emphasizes the importance of studying the dead to aid in justice for victims of violent crimes and to understand disease. Her work involves investigating numerous cases, including exhuming bodies from the war on drugs. The impending retirement of Dr. Fortun without a successor highlights a critical gap in forensic pathology, underscoring its importance for public health, disease investigation, and establishing accountability.
Many cadavers used in medical schools are unclaimed bodies, which are held for a year to allow families to claim them before being released for scientific use. These bodies are carefully selected based on suitability for dissection and are preserved in various ways, including 'regular' and 'soft' embalming, the latter allowing for practicing surgical techniques. The documentary reiterates the importance of educating the public about body donation to normalize the practice and support medical advancements.
The reporter details a firsthand experience of touching a four-year-old cadaver preserved with advanced techniques. The cadaver's realistic appearance, described as 'just asleep,' and the soft, yet cold, texture create a unique and impactful encounter. This experience emphasizes the profound and tangible learning opportunity that cadavers provide, allowing students to directly examine and understand human anatomy.
Cadavers continue to offer new discoveries in medicine, leading to published case reports and improved surgical techniques. The documentary advocates for greater openness to studying the dead, which would significantly benefit forensic investigations and medical understanding. Many doctors and professors have pledged to donate their bodies to science, recognizing the invaluable contribution to medical education and research, with Presidential Decree 856 supporting the use of unclaimed bodies by medical institutions.