Sponsored message
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen
NPR News

Lessons from the Gross Anatomy Lab

The gross anatomy lab.
The gross anatomy lab.

Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth and for LAist. Make your year-end tax-deductible gift now.

Listen 0:00
Listen

Gross anatomy students at the University of Maryland Medical School are nearing final exams, and as they unwrap their cadavers on one of the last days in the lab, it's clear that a lot of work has been done this semester. Legs and arms have been dissected down to the bone. Internal organs are gone. And as NPR's Melissa Block discovers in the second of a series about the end of life and the gift of teaching, the students themselves have changed.

"We're definitely a lot more comfortable with the body," student George Kochman says. "We've had to flip the body and move the body and stick [our] hands in various cavities."

Most of the students share this confidence, working far less tentatively than they did on the first day. They've learned a great deal from the cadavers, and they say they've owed it to the donors to make the most of their time in the lab.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our connected community. We are free to tell the full truth, to hold power to account without fear or favor, and to follow facts wherever they lead. Our only loyalty is to our audiences and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen our community.

Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.

If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.

Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief

Make your tax-deductible year-end gift today

A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right