How a medical student made peace with a corpse

"Body of Work: Meditations on Mortality From the Human Anatomy Lab"

by Christine Montross

Penguin Press, 296 pp., $24.95

As seen through the eyes of a first-year medical student, "Body of Work: Meditations on Mortality From the Human Anatomy Lab" by Christine Montross ponders the use of human cadavers in the study of medicine. Montross' memoir is a philosophical view of life, death and the doctor-patient relationship.

Like many medical students, Montross began her studies by standing over a dead body. Her relationship with her cadaver, whom she calls Eve, provides the framework for observations about the medical profession. She discovers that to be an effective doctor, she must remain detached but empathetic.

Balancing this combination is difficult. Culturally, doctors are powerful. Montross is astonished by how readily people discuss intimate details with her, simply because she's in medical school. The rules of polite society no longer apply. After all, cutting, probing and dismantling a corpse is taboo.

While some students regard their cadavers as objects, Montross identifies with Eve's humanity. She dwells on her mortality. Members of her lab team are also affected. One drops out of medical school. The stress of retaining an enormous amount of information is compounded by taking apart a body that is not unlike their own.

Ultimately, Montross believes that dissecting a human cadaver prepares students for the emotional challenges of the medical profession. Being able to touch the most intimate and grotesque parts of the human anatomy is not for everyone, nor is reading about it. Yet this memoir offers a distinct view for prospective medical students on what awaits them in the human anatomy lab.