New program donates dead bodies to medical students

By: Erika Castillo EL PASO, Texas -- Texas University Health Sciences Center in El Paso in now embarking on the next step in becoming a world-class medical school.

It is rolling out its Willed Body Program, which provides medical students with deceased bodies on which to learn how to become physicians.

Previously, El Paso's new medical school was teaching students in its anatomy classes, using willed bodies that had been donated in other parts of Texas and filtered through the Texas Tech program in Lubbock, then transferred to El Paso.

That will no longer be necessary as the pool of willed bodies for the El Paso campus will now come from the Borderland itself.

Putting together this report was a little unusual for me as a journalist. Rarely, do we have the opportunity to interject parts of our personal lives into a report. However in this case, I felt compelled to do so because my own mother is one of the first people to do the paperwork to become a participant of the willed body program.

Her doing so provides a unique opportunity not only to report on something new and beneficial to our community, but frankly, for me to have a chance to wrap my head around the fact my mother wants to one day donate her body to medical science.

Apparently, this is something she has thought about for a long time. About a year ago, she had a friend who was diagnosed with cancer and who had to confront the possibilities of death at that time. The friend signed up for national willed body database, and my mother talked to me about it at the time.

At the time, my mother knew a lot more about the process than I did. She seemed very convinced, but still had spiritual-related questions to consider. By the time Texas Tech rolled out the program this week, my mother was ready to make a commitment. And I was ready to learn more and share it.

My mother is nowhere near ready to leave this Earth. She is healthy and active in every way. She's a tough, smart lady and I personally think she'll live to be 100 at least. I hope she does because I love her. And it's tough stuff to think about.

I hope the story is helpful and informational. If nothing else, the fact this program is embarking on the border, is an indication of the commitment being made in El Paso to develop a world-class generation of medical experts and improving medical services in our area.