Carrying excess weight poses a number of health and other problems, but who knew such problems could extend past death? According to a recent report by MSNBC, many donation programs are refusing corpses that weigh more than 200 to 300 pounds because they simply do not have the equipment or manpower to handle them. East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine in Greenville, NC has even stricter weight requirements – they will not accept a body weighing more than 170 or 180 pounds for scientific study.
Corpses donated for medical research are primarily used by first-year anatomy students, who some argue need to learn what a normal body looks like before studying obesity and other pathologies. Not to mention the fact that larger bodies are simply more difficult to dissect, study and transport.
What do you think? With more Americans falling into overweight and obese categories, what does this mean for the future of medical research and practice in our country?
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– Willona Stallings, Program Coordinator, Partners in Health and Wholeness
