Respect for Body Donors
Family and friends should be comforted by the knowledge that all personnel who work for the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and its students hold the greatest respect for those who have donated their body. Our teaching laboratory is restricted to medical students, teaching faculty, necessary staff, and health-related professionals. The contribution that participants make to the Willed Body Program is fully recognized and appreciated by all.
Upon completion of the human anatomy course, first-year students annually hold a memorial service to honor those who donated their bodies to the Willed Body Program. Class of 2011 president Daniel Binz gave the following speech at the memorial:
"This memorial service is our way of honoring and saying thank you to these individuals and their friends and families for giving us this opportunity to further our knowledge of the human body is such an intimate way. They have provided us with real life, hands-on experience that is more than any textbook has to offer. In my mind, it takes a very brave and selfless individual to donate their body to strangers, and it goes without saying that we really respect and honor their decisions to do so.For generations, taking human anatomy has been a stepping stone and rite of passage for medical students, and this integral part of becoming a physician would be lost without the opportunity these people have so graciously given us. We should take pride in knowing that they believe enough in what we can accomplish to make this commitment for the future of medicine. Their desire to educating the next generation of physicians is something we should hold near and dear to our hearts and something we should try to incorporate into our future practices.
I would like everyone to remember that these were truly our first patients, and have touched our lives and the lives of every patient we will see throughout our careers. The impact they have made has begun to shape us into the great physicians we all strive to be. It’s humbling to know that they have found a way to give life, in their time of passing, to so many different people.
I would like to close by saying that we are eternally grateful for their gift and sacrifice. The memory of them will stay with us, and will be passed on to our patients through the healing and comfort we can provide because of these sacrifices they made and opportunities they have given us. We cannot say thank you enough for this uniquely enriching experience that they have bestowed upon us. We are indebted to these generous teachers."
