American Association for Anatomy recommendations for the management of legacy anatomical collections.

Collections of human remains in scientific and private institutions have a long tradition, though throughout history there has often been variable regard for the respect and dignity that these tissues demand. Recent public scandals around the use of human remains, coupled with an increasing community awareness around accountability in such instances, forces scholars to confront the ethical and moral concerns associated with these collections. This includes specific focus on the acquisition, storage, use, and disposition of these remains, which were often collected with no consent and with little knowledge, or concern, about the individual or their respective culture and practices surrounding death and postmortem treatment. As a response, the American Association for Anatomy convened a Legacy Anatomical Collections Task Force to consider these issues and to develop recommendations to assist those working with these tissues in education, research, and museum collections. This has culminated with the development of Recommendations for the Management of Legacy Anatomical Collections. The recommendations provide both an ethical foundation and practical considerations for the use, storage, and disposition of legacy collections of human tissues, and deliver guidance for establishing appropriate management and oversight, investigating provenance, and engaging with communities of care. While these Recommendations are considered a living document which will change over time as ethical principles concerning human tissue evolve, they currently represent 'best practice' recommendations that can guide researchers, teachers, and museum associates as they consider the future of legacy anatomical collections in their care.

The history of the Vienna Protocol on dealing with Holocaust era human remains and its resonance with ethical considerations in African American bioarcheology.

The Vienna Protocol on How to Deal with Holocaust Era Human Remains describes what to do when possibly Jewish human remains are found. Based on Jewish medical ethics, it responds to the 2014-2017 discoveries of human remains stemming from biomedical contexts of the Nazi period. Among the finding sites were the Dahlem campus of the Free University of Berlin, the Medical University of Strasbourg, and Max Planck Institute archives. The Vienna Protocol is unique among similar recommendations on Nazi era human remains in its representation of the voices of those who suffered violence and were targeted as victims by Nazi persecution. In addition to discussing the ethics of dealing with physical human remains, these recommendations address the use of images (i.e., visual data) from the bodies of victims of Nazi violence. This paper presents the historical background of the Vienna Protocol and its impact. It also offers a first analysis as to why, at the time of the protocol's formulation, its authors were unaware of its resonance with ethical considerations from African American bioarcheology and a new ethical culture in bioanthropology. Potential reasons for this disconnect may include the historic marginalization of the voices of black scholars in anthropology within the wider scientific community. However, more detailed studies are needed to analyze similarities and differences between the histories and continuities of antisemitism and racism in Europe and the U.S.A., and their ties with scientific theories and practices of disciplines that gain knowledge from human remains.

Ethical concerns surrounding artificial intelligence in anatomy education: Should AI human body simulations replace donors in the dissection room?

The potential effects of artificial intelligence (AI) on the teaching of anatomy are unclear. We explore the hypothetical situation of human body donors being replaced by AI human body simulations and reflect on two separate ethical concerns: first, whether it is permissible to replace donors with AI human body simulations in the dissection room when the consequences of doing so are unclear, and second, the overarching ethical significance of AI use in anatomy education. To do this, we highlight the key benefits of student exposure to the dissection room and body donors, including nontechnical, discipline-independent skills, awareness and interaction with applied bioethics, and professional identity formation. We suggest that the uniqueness of the dissection room experience and the importance of the key benefits accompanying this exposure outweigh the potential and so far unknown benefits of AI technology in this space. Further, the lack of engagement with bioethical principles that are intimately intertwined with the dissection room experience may have repercussions for future healthcare professional development. We argue that interaction with body donors must be protected and maintained and not replaced with AI human body donor simulations. Any move away from this foundation of anatomy education requires scrutiny. In light of the possible adoption of AI technologies into anatomy teaching, it is necessary that medical educators reflect on the dictum that the practice of healthcare, and anatomy, is a uniquely human endeavor.

Anatomy From Nazi Germany to Today.

This viewpoint reviews the anatomical body procurement used in Nazi Germany, notes the continued use of those images, and calls for disclosure of the biographical history of the people whose bodies and tissues are now studied.

Racism, structural racism, and the American Association for Anatomy: Initial report from a task force.

In 2021, the American Association for Anatomy (AAA) Board of Directors appointed a Task Force on Structural Racism to understand how the laws, rules, and practices in which the Association formed, developed and continues to exist affect membership and participation. This commentary is the first public report from the Task Force. We focus on African Americans with some comments on Jews and women, noting that all marginalized groups deserve study. Through much of its 130 year history, some members were an essential part of perpetuating racist ideas, the Association largely ignored racism and had some practices that prevented participation. The Task Force concluded that individual and structural racism within the AAA, combined with the broader social context in which the Association developed, contributed to the current underrepresentation of African Americans who constitute 4.1% of the membership even though 13.4% of the U.S. population is Black. Intentional efforts within the AAA to reckon with racism and other forms of bias have only begun in the last 10-20 years. These actions have led to more diverse leadership within the Association, and it is hoped that these changes will positively affect the recruitment and retention of marginalized people to science in general and anatomy in particular. The Task Force recommends that the AAA Board issue a statement of responsibility to acknowledge its history. Furthermore, the Task Force advocates that the Board commit to (a) sustaining ongoing projects to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion and (b) dedicating additional resources to facilitate novel initiatives.

Books, bones and bodies: The relevance of the history of anatomy in Nazi Germany for medical education today.

The history of anatomy in Nazi Germany highlights the consequences to humanity when the destructive potentials immanent to all science and medicine are enabled by an anti-democratic, totalitarian regime. Anatomy presents an example of ethical transgressions by scientists and health care professionals that were amplified in the criminal political climate of the Nazi regime. This can happen anywhere, as science is never apolitical. This article gives a short account of anatomy in Nazi Germany, which is followed by an outline of the tangible and intangible legacies from this history, to then discuss implications for anatomy education today. While Jewish and politically dissident anatomists were forced out of their positions and country by the Nazi regime, the majority of the remaining anatomists joined the Nazi party and used bodies of Nazi victims for education and research. Some anatomists even performed deadly human experiments. Patterns and legacies that emerge from this history can be traced into the present and concern research ethics in general and anatomical body procurement specifically. They shed light on current practices and controversies in the anatomical sciences, including anthropology. It will be argued here that the history of anatomy in Nazi Germany can inform current anatomy education in a concept of anatomy as the first "clinical discipline." By integrating insights from the history of anatomy into the learning process, anatomy education can model an approach to medicine that includes a full appreciation of the shared humanity of medical practitioners and patients.

An Excerpt from The Anatomy of Murder: Excerpted from the Section: "The Pernkopf Controversy" (pages 278 - 281, 287, 288).

(Reprinted with permission from The Anatomy of Murder: Ethical Transgressions and Anatomical Science During the Third Reich. "The Pernkopf Controversy," pages 278-281; excerpted from Berghahn Books, 2016).

Nerve Surgeons' Assessment of the Role of Eduard Pernkopf's Atlas of Topographic and Applied Human Anatomy in Surgical Practice.

(Reprinted with permission from NEUROSURGERY, Volume 84, Number 2, February 2019).

Anatomy in Nazi Germany: The Use of Victims' Bodies in Academia and Present-Day Legacies.

After decades of denial, German academic medicine was reluctant to accept responsibility for its complex collaboration with the Nazi regime. Consequently, much of this history needs further detailed exploration, as legacies from this history still exist in the form of "Books, Bones and Bodies." Specifically, this concerns the legacies of anatomists' use of bodies of Nazi victims in teaching and research, as "data" have become anatomical knowledge and specimens from victims continue to be discovered.