To the editor:

An April 5 editorial (“Concern Lacking”) gave information about the body donation program at the KU Medical Center that was inaccurate and misleading and inconsistent with articles already published by the Lawrence Journal-World.

First, we do not “sell” bodies donated for medical research. When we have bodies in excess of what is needed on our campus or other campuses, we distribute them to other medical schools. This is stated explicitly in material we distribute to prospective donors and is included on the bequeath form. It costs us about $800 in time and materials to prepare a body to be shipped to another school, so rather than have taxpayers pay for it, we ask for that amount to cover our costs.

Second, these bodies are thoroughly embalmed, making them entirely unsuitable for the explosion or crash testing cited in recent articles, and unusable (toxic) for possible lucrative transplantation of body parts. We are confident and have received assurances that no body donated to the KU School of Medicine has ever been used for anything except legitimate medical education and research.

Third, I strongly believe it would dishonor the wishes of the donors and their families if we simply refused excess donations or allowed the generous and heartfelt donations to go to waste. Such a policy could jeopardize the future supply for KUMC and other Kansas schools.

Your unwarranted attack could endanger this program, which is so vital to providing education to health care professionals practicing in Kansas and throughout the country.

Dale R. Abrahamson,

chairman, department of

anatomy and cell biology,

KU School of Medicine