Medics bemoan lack of dead bodies
‘British medics warned that a lack of donated dead bodies was damaging the quality of training for new doctors and surgeons, and possibly putting patients at risk.
The Royal College of Surgeons said there was a serious national shortage of cadavers which are needed to teach anatomy to medical students.
“Visual demonstration is not enough,” said Dick Rainsbury, RCS education director, adding that he had doubts about whether those who learnt by observation could perform operations with “any degree of competence or confidence”.
“There has been a noticeable and serious decline in the general level of applied anatomical knowledge displayed by junior doctors,” he said. [..]
The RCS said it estimated 1000 bodies a year were needed for medical teaching and that there was currently a 30 per cent shortfall, with particular problems in London.’
