Anatomical Board should butt out
A Times EditorialPublished August 14, 2005
Legitimate ethical issues have been raised about an exhibit at Tampa's Museum of Science and Industry that will feature bodies of people who did not - or could not - give their consent. But state government has no business settling that debate and determining whether "Bodies, the Exhibition" should be allowed to open. Despite Attorney General Charlie Crist's opinion Friday that approval of an obscure state board is required, the exhibit should not be subject to government approval.
The MOSI exhibit is set to open Saturday and would feature 20 posed bodies and an additional 260 organs and body parts from China that promoters say would offer the public an extraordinary look at the complexity of the human body. Promoters say the bodies, which were unidentified or unclaimed by family members, were legally obtained and will be respectfully displayed. Some bioethics experts counter that it is unethical and disrespectful to display bodies of people who did not give their consent. The Anatomical Board, which usually oversees the use of human bodies at medical schools, has raised similar concerns and says its approval of the exhibit is required.
Crist's rationale that the board has that authority is a stretch. This is a public museum exhibit that has nothing to do with using bodies for education or research at medical schools. Medical students will not be examining corpses. To follow the Anatomical Board's logic, perhaps it also should demand the removal of all mummies from Florida's museums.
The state board itself takes possession of some 10 unclaimed bodies a year. Presumably, the board excuses this practice by satisfying itself that the bodies are handled respectfully and that their use for medical research serves a larger public interest. Those same standards should be enough in this case.
The exhibit's promoters and MOSI brought some of this controversy upon themselves. They were not particularly forthcoming initially about the nature of the exhibit and the origin of the bodies. While museum officials claimed that an ethics committee of medical and religious leaders would review the exhibit, it turned out that committee never met to discuss the exhibit or to consider the wisdom of displaying the bodies of people who had not given their permission. A little less secrecy and a lot more public discussion could have prevented this last-minute controversy.
Ultimately, the severity of the ethical concerns and the tastefulness of the exhibit should be gauged by how many people pay to see it. The Anatomical Board should stick to monitoring the use of bodies for research at medical schools and stay out of the business of approving museum exhibits.