An investigation into the corpse show industry reveals a sustained marketing campaign targeting the media and science institutions. Tough questions have either never been asked or the 'spin' is now so well used that it has become fact.
Have a special look at the 'corpse show industry file' and 'Robs the NHS of donations file' Von Hagens is very good at avoiding these issues and it is worth getting some 'spin free facts' before interviewing him or anyone from the corpse show industry.
On a tight deadline? If you are on a tight deadline then have a look at the quick facts and figures here or the summary of what we are doing with questions for von Hagens here. Media spinning Body Worlds has developed a series of answers to media questions. Here are some alternative answers to the standard list of questions that they advise museums to prepare for.
Media briefing topics Museum of Science & Industry (MoSI) web The corpse show industry web Ethics web Robs the NHS of donations web Museum of Science & Industry (MoSI) web The Body Worlds brand web UK law web History of the Victorian corpse show web How to market corpses web Advice for parents web Issues for Schools web Von Hagens web What the Church of England says web Questions and answers web
Pictures In order to preserve the positive marketing message pictures of plastinated corpses for online use have to a prior copy approval requirement. Use of images has to be linked to pieces about exhibitions and are time limited. In order to maintain our editorial independence, we can point you in the direction of images of corpses used in the shows, but we do not use any ourselves.
Poster PDF Excellent photo essay on Dr Von Hagens. Here
Links to other reports and resources One of the best sites on the topic covering the history of anatomy, the debate around art and science, ethics, videos and opinions. Here
Excellent Independent article on shortages of bodies, current practice and the history of anatomy. Here
Washington Post and the issue of body sources. Here Donate your body to Von Hagens document, with pictures of production lines. Here Guardian education article. Here
Great interview with Von Hagen. Here Wikipedia Here Some exhibits are at best questionable and at worst distasteful. Here BBC reports that "when pressed he admitted he had stopped using bodies from a mental institution in Siberia. Here
Official bodies and Law Human Tissue Authority (HTA). Here The Human Tissue Act (2004). Here Donate your body. Here Donate organs. Here Manchester University asks for donations. Here
The official Bodyworlds site. Here Bodyworlds press office. Here
Bodies: the Exhibition website here Premier website here Body merchandise Here Attitudes to death Different faiths Church of England position. Here C of E House of Lords submission. Here
Opinions ELAINE CATZ explains why she quit her job at the Carnegie Science Centre after it decided to hold a corpse show. Here
Positive review, especially over the issues of health with some negatives about the 'artistic' arrangements. Here. Corpse shows reduce donations Dr Roger Serle of Newcastle University's medical school argued corpse show would reduce donations. Here
Department of Health article on why numbers dropping. Here
Von Hagens Gunther von Hagens (b. Gunther Liebchen, January 10, 1945) was born in East Germany 'of peasant stock', he left school at 16 and later spent two years in prison, for attempting unsuccessfully to escape to the West. On his release he put himself through night school by working as an elevator operator and managed to get himself accepted by the Heidelberg Institute of Anatomy in Austria.
It was there in 1977 that he started his research into plastination for scientific purposes, but von Hagens soon found that 'laymen were interested in the specimens because they could see death without the burden of cruelty - it was made palatable'.
In 2002, it was reported that von Hagens broke British law by conducting the first public autopsy in 170 years in a London theatre. He received a letter from Her Majesty's Inspector of Anatomy warning him that performing a public autopsy would be a criminal act under section 9 of the 1984 Anatomy Act. Local police were present but did not lay charges.
