Bodies in Plastic

CERC ^ | 11.01.06 | Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D.

[Coleus]

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An exhibit called "Body Worlds" is currently touring the United States and generating some animated discussion in its wake.

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The bodies are posed, for example, as a rider on a horse, where the body of the horse is also plasticized. By removing skin and various layers of musculature to expose internal organs, it is possible to literally look inside the body and see its inner structure. In one exhibit, an expectant mother has been cross-sectioned to reveal her unborn child, while in another, a man has been peeled down to his musculature, and he carries his skin on his arm like an old raincoat. The exhibit is billed as an educational exhibit, teaching people about the internal structure and organization of their own bodies. As the director of the exhibit phrased it, "My aim is to illuminate and educate through the beautiful arrangement" of bodies. Yet some people find the exhibit "edgy", causing more than a tinge of discomfort, and they wonder whether there aren't ethical concerns associated with putting the human body on display in this way
 
One potential problem associated with such a display involves consent. In general, consent is very important, and should be sought for organ or bodily donation. Informed consent seems to be a recurrent theme in regards to this exhibition, since some of the bodies which have been on display in the past may not have had convincing documentation of informed consent. Several of the bodies may have originated from natural disasters in which the victims could not be identified. Hence, one can inquire whether all of the subjects really approved of their new "show business careers", or as one commentator, half tongue-in-cheek, mused about the matter: "Dear World: Please don't let them pump plastic into me and exhibit me naked, without half my skin, playing tennis. I hate tennis." Other issues regarding consent are worthy of consideration as well. Obtaining valid informed consent may not really be possible when children or infants in utero are put on display, even though it is true that medical schools and museums have a rather long history of preserving human fetuses and embryos in formaldehyde for teaching and educational purposes.
 
Obtaining consent from adults, on the other hand, is not necessarily a difficult proposition. The organizer of the Body Worlds exhibit claims that more than 6000 people have already signed the dotted line for their own future "plastination." Many individuals are happy to donate their bodies to science. I recall doing dissections as an undergraduate student in an anatomy and physiology class, using a cadaver from an elderly lady who had donated her body to science. Such donations are not morally problematic, and in fact are similar to organ donation. Such organ donation is not only permissible, but can be seen as a very generous act. As Pope John Paul II once put it: "A particularly praiseworthy example… is the donation of organs, performed in an ethically acceptable manner, with a view to offering a chance of health and even of life itself to the sick who sometimes have no other hope."
 
But what about the display of bodies where consent cannot be obtained? When dealing with situations like museums displaying ancient Egyptian mummies, or tourists observing the remains of believers in the catacombs under Rome, or archaeologists examining skeletal remains exhumed from digs, such consent can probably be presumed, assuming that certain conditions are met:

1. Their remains are not being used in a disrespectful manner;
    
2. There is an educational, spiritual or inspirational end being realized by the use of the remains;
    
3. There was no indication left by the individuals or their relatives explicitly stating that they did not want the remains to be used in this public service;
    
4. The death of the individual was not intentionally caused in order to procure the body or the tissues.

Whether the use of human bodies in Body Worlds will be acceptable will largely depend on intense discussion surrounding the first and second conditions. Are the bodies being posed provocatively or being made to engage in immoral activities while on display, or are they set up in respectable, fundamentally decent poses? Since it is a public display, are the actions represented appropriate for public viewing, including children? These are some of the further questions we may need to consider when trying to decide about the moral acceptability of such an exhibition. There may also need to be assurance that the bodies on display, or parts from those bodies that were removed during their preparation, will ultimately be properly disposed of either through burial or through cremation, as a sign of our respect for the remains of the dead."
 
The fact that the traveling cadaver exhibit has already drawn more than 18 million visitors worldwide indicates a deep-seated fascination with understanding our own bodies. One might even argue that such an exhibit could prompt some soul searching and further discussion of human frailty and the meaning of our own mortality. Along the same lines, an exhibit which reveals the human child in utero by a simple cutaway can serve to powerfully remind visitors about the reality of the pro-life message, namely that children in the womb are not "blobs of protoplasm" but are rather our brothers and sisters at an earlier developmental stage. In the words of one astute observer: "If young women had windows on their stomachs, so they could see into their own wombs, the number of abortions would decline drastically." The Body Worlds exhibit does seem to afford a unique opportunity to open a window onto the inner workings of the human body in a way that straddles the line between enlightening and edgy.  

Father Tad Pacholczyk writes a weekly column, Making Sense out of Bioethics, which appears in various diocesan newspapers across the country.  Rev. Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D. earned his doctorate in neuroscience from Yale and did post-doctoral work at Harvard. He is a priest of the diocese of Fall River, MA, and serves as the Director of Education at The National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia. See www.ncbcenter.org.

The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) has a long history of addressing ethical issues in the life sciences and medicine. Established in 1972, the Center is engaged in education, research, consultation, and publishing to promote and safeguard the dignity of the human person in health care and the life sciences. The Center is unique among bioethics organizations in that its message derives from the official teaching of the Catholic Church: drawing on the unique Catholic moral tradition that acknowledges the unity of faith and reason and builds on the solid foundation of natural law.  The Center's staff consults regularly on life science issues and medical issues with the Vatican, the U.S. bishops and public policy-makers, hospitals and international organizations of all faiths. Vatican agencies including the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Pontifical Academy for Life and the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers consult with the Center to help formulate magisterial teaching.

The Center publishes two journals (Ethics & Medics and The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly) and at least one book annually on issues such as physician-assisted suicide, abortion, cloning, and embryonic stem cell research. The latest publication is an update of its Handbook on Critical Life Issues, which examines such topics as the theology of suffering, euthanasia, organ transplantation, and stem cell research.
Inspired by the harmony of faith and reason, the Quarterly unites faith in Christ to reasoned and rigorous reflection upon the findings of the empirical and experimental sciences. While the Quarterly is committed to publishing material that is consonant with the magisterium of the Catholic Church, it remains open to other faiths and to secular viewpoints in the spirit of informed dialogue.  Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk, Ph.D. is a member of the advisory board of the Catholic Education Resource Center.

[bvw]

Correction: "plastic models do not fulfill the voyeuristic impulse many A FEW here have already shown."

[Jotmo]

As for making these totally out of plastic instead of actual human bodies, NO ONE would go see it if it weren't from humans. That's the gimmick.

Exactly. It's the ghoulish nature of the display that is the attraction. But many people will deny it to prevent admitting to them selves that there is something in them that is fascinated by the sick and twisted.

[Cicero]

I hate to say it, but I think this "Catholic" bioethics group is, whatever its protestations, NOT CATHOLIC.

Respect for the person has always involved respect for the body. Consent of the individual concerned or of his family simply isn't sufficient to make this right.

If a person or a family is too stupid or out of touch to understand that, it still doesn't make it right. You'd might as well say that assisted suicide is fine, as long as you have proper consent. Well, it isn't fine; and neither is this.

[Ferndina]

I was in Orlando Florida this week, Dec. 5th thru the 9th, and I saw a brochure stating the exhibit was in Orlando.

[wideminded]

I saw one of these exhibitions today. Apparently there are multiple shows touring the country. The one I saw is called "Bodies ... The Exhibition". Anyone who says that it is sick or ghoulish or a symptom of the decline of civilization has not seen it. Although the complete bodies attract all the outside attention many of the exhibits are devoted to individual parts or systems of the body such as the nerves, circulatory system, muscles and tendons, etc. Most of the complete bodies have been dissected in a way that clarifies certain particular systems or how different parts of the body are arranged in relation to one another. The exhibition was generally very well organized.

As far as the idea that the exhibits could have just been made out of plastic, this does not make any sense. They are far too detailed for this to have been possible. You have to see the exhibits or know a lot about anatomy to understand why this is so. On the other hand the preservation process pretty much removes any "ickiness factor", so I sometimes had to remind myself that these had been real people.

As far as the subjects whose bodies are on display, I do not feel that the exhibit is disrespectful to them. I think many people would like the idea of being of such service to others even after their death. They are anonymous, at least to the viewer, but that is as it should be.

I found the exhibition to be incredibly interesting and wish that I had had more time to go it through more thoroughly. Most people will probably come away with a far better understanding of the human body than they have gained in their entire life. I would recommend the exhibition for anyone except very young children.

[Wormwood]

But many people will deny it to prevent admitting to them selves that there is something in them that is fascinated by the sick and twisted.

My wife and I saw the Bodies exhibition in Tampa twice.

Very interesting, and morbidly fascinating (but then again, I've always thought the human body was a thing of sublime beauty)

[aligncare]

As far as the idea that the exhibits could have just been made out of plastic, this does not make any sense...

I went to medical school and know that molds are cast from human systems as incredibly intricate as the nervous system. Many books have been published detailing this. One is a pictorial called, "The Nervous System".

[Aquinasfan]

Call me old fashioned but I think it is sick.

You're not "old-fashioned." This is timelessly sick --make that evil. It's a satanic denigration of the human person.

[wideminded]

I went to medical school and know that molds are cast from human systems as incredibly intricate as the nervous system.

When you have a complete body you can see how various systems relate to each other. For instance there were exhibits that simultaneously showed how the deepest layers of muscle are attached on the back, the complex arrangement of tendons around the hands and feet, and how the spinal cord is arranged inside the spine. Or dissections that showed all the structures inside the neck and what they are attached to. All these multiple layers that are attached in various ways indicate to me that any artificially constructed model is going to be missing a lot.

One of the more interesting exhibits I saw was the entire human nervous system, including the brain, laid out on a table. They also had the entire digestive system. I suppose these could have been cast in plastic without missing too much. But each individual system probably has to be cast in a different way.

When you studied anatomy in medical school, did you dissect a plastic human body?

I took a course in neuroanatomy where we examined and dissected real human brains. It would not have been the same thing if we were just looking at plastic models. For one thing, not every brain is the same.

[wideminded]

This is timelessly sick --make that evil. It's a satanic denigration of the human person.

1. Would you want to go to a doctor who had never seen the inside of the human body?

2. Do you feel that anatomical knowledge should be restricted to doctors?

3. Don't Catholics believe that the "human person" is different from the human body?

[dvan]

The Nazis made lampshades from human skin. Now we have a new art form emerging don't we? Perhpas the other parts can be recycled into useful articles. /end sarcasm.

[wideminded]

4. What about all those body parts of saints that are on display?

[wideminded]

The Nazis made lampshades from human skin. Now we have a new art form emerging don't we?

If this were an exhibit of skin lampshades, you would have a point. The exhibition I saw was entirely focused on illustrating the inner working of the human body.

[aligncare]

That maybe the difference in our interpretation of the purpose of the exhibit. The training of doctors and neuroanatomists is different from educating the public at large.

BTW...I have no moral objection to the exhibit. Some folks do, however, for religious or other reasons. Some consideration should be given them. That's all I would add.

[Aquinasfan]

4. What about all those body parts of saints that are on display?

The bodies of the saints are treated with the reverence due them, in sharp contrast to these circus freak shows.

See how the Church reverences the body of St. Bernadette of Lourdes.

Note that the Church doesn't charge admission to see her sliced in half and propped up on horseback.

[ican'tbelieveit]

I went twice. Once with work, and took my kids back a few weeks later.

It really depends on the person. Wideminded makes an excellent point about the medical profession not having access to bodies before practicing.

I loved the displays, and not for voyeuristic or ghoulish reasons. When my boss was interested in what part of his knees were giving out, he could see it, see how it interacted with all other parts of his body by its connections. Some of my favorite parts were the circulatory system (around the lungs, wow) and the lungs of smokers and miners.

[wideminded]

When my boss was interested in what part of his knees were giving out, he could see it, see how it interacted with all other parts of his body by its connections.

Funny you should mention that. I have had knee problems in the past so I also paid attention to the various knee displays at the exhibit. I felt that they gave me a better understanding of the knee than all the diagrams and plastic models I had previously seen.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

"a man has been peeled down to his musculature, and he carries his skin on his arm like an old raincoat"

Nah. Nothing ghoulish or tawdry about that...

There's a Vesalius engraving from the 16th Century that shows basically the same thing. I can't find that one right now, but here's another:

[wideminded]

See how the Church reverences the body of St. Bernadette of Lourdes.

It's not clear that you actually read the page you linked to. It states that surgery was performed on the body of St. Bernadette to remove relics. They removed some parts of her ribs, liver and diaphragm. Also her kneecaps and pieces of muscle and skin. They were talking about removing her heart. This was all under church supervision.

The bodies of the saints are treated with the reverence due them,

It appears that over time, many of their bodies have been hacked to bits to feed the desire for relics. I myself have seen a number of these relics including the entire hand and forearm of a saint that was contained in a silver glove-shaped reliquary with a rock crystal window. All this seems somewhat morbid to me.

in sharp contrast to these circus freak shows.

The exhibit I attended was not a "circus freak show" but a highly educational illustration of the workings of the human body. Granted there were a few bodies that were posed in certain ways but even these served to illustrate certain points concerning anatomy. Perhaps I would find a body mounted on a horse to be a little over the top. They didn't have this at the show I attended. Also I don't really fault the show for using a little hype. Or for charging admission, given that preparation of the exhibits must have been extremely expensive and time consuming.

Note that the Church doesn't charge admission

No, but they do have a gift shop. Also "L'Espace Bernadette" has large meeting rooms (with Internet access), accomodation for 200 people, dining rooms seating 1000, 2 chapels, etc. Someone must have paid for all that.

BTW I had actually seen a picture of the body of St. Bernadette previously and marvelled at the amazing "incorruptible" condition it appeared to be in, the quality for which it is famous. But according to the page you linked to:

1. The body is not at all incorruptible. Even in the early 20th century there were serious signs of decay. Also the original coffin contained various preservative substances.

2. Most remarkably, the beautiful face and hands of the body of St. Bernadette are actually a wax mask created by a sculptor!

As the incorruptibility of her body was one of the factors that led to her canonization, and is what probably draws many pilgrims, there seems to be a certain element of hype here as well.

[Xenalyte]

The padre makes exactly zero new arguments. Every point he makes has been made before, and most of the time less wordily.