From James Bird
Gareth Jones’s emotive plea on behalf of unclaimed dead bodies (19 April, p 26) is completely unconvincing.
Who cares about them? Certainly not the living, otherwise the bodies would be claimed. And certainly not the dead, for they are long past caring. Even if someone were to care during life, their wishes have no standing in law since the disposal of a body is at the discretion of the executor of the person’s will – none, in the case of those who lie unclaimed.
It is certainly worth discussing whether dissection is the best way to teach anatomy to medical students, but this isn’t the purpose of Jones’s article. If anything is to be done for what Jones calls these vulnerable people, surely it is better for help to be given during their lifetime when they might gain some advantage from it, rather than beating one’s breast about their fate once they are dead.
Great Ryburgh, Norfolk, UK
