Bodies of Knowledge

Today's Bizarro is brought to you by a small box of unknown contents.

Many years ago, a friend of mine got a job at a hospital doing routine cleaning and such. On her first day, she was sent into an operating room with instructions to mop the floor or something, only to find the head of a cadaver on a table, supposedly left over from a brain surgeon's practice session the night before. Instead of mopping the floor, she painted it with her breakfast and went home, never to return.

I've often wondered if I dedicated my body to science, if something I valued as much as my head would be left on a table to haze a new employee. I've since heard all kinds of stories of med students using cadaver parts for practical jokes. I suppose you can't blame them – it is probably a logical consequence of forcing yourself to be comfortable with things that are so averse to your nature, like handling dead body parts.

Has any really famous person ever donated their body to science? Can you imagine if someone as famous as Michael Jackson did? Would the cadaver be used for plastic surgeons to practice reattaching missing body parts, like his nose? Or would it be stolen and sold on the black market to some rich guy who just wanted it in his freezer to impress his friends? I suppose it could be taken on a tour of PTA meetings to warn parents what can happen if they give their children low self esteem.