My Dead Body documentary and workshop series

About body donation

The action of exploring the human body after death dates back to the Egyptians around 300BC. To understand and learn more about the human body, dissection became a standard practice over time, and was often performed in front of the public.

In 1832 this practice became regulated by the Anatomy Act. The act was refined in 1984, meaning the practice of dissection used bodies from consenting individuals only. In 2004 the Human Tissue Act was passed and since then all human tissue in England and Wales has been regulated by the Human Tissue Authority (HTA).

BSMS has held a licence since 2004 to enable medical and allied health care students and professionals to dissect donated bodies for their education and training. BSMS has always been engaged in helping wider groups understand more about the human body in health and disease and in 2019 the medical school applied for and was granted a HTA Public Display Licence (HTA Licence Number: 12687) so that we could run public events using a historical collection of specimens. In 2020, the first donor to consent for use during these public workshops was received by BSMS. 

Our donor will not be the first public dissection ever but will be the first that will be self-consented. It is more than 700 years since the first public dissection and more than 200 years since the last public dissection in the UK. 

Learn more about body donation in our short film below.

What does Public Display and the law mean?

The Human Tissue Authority website explains: “Human bodies, body parts and specimens may be put on public display, for example as part of an exhibition in a gallery or museum. If they are from the body of a deceased person who died less than 100 years ago, the premises must be licensed by the HTA for public display. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, consent must be given by the person themselves for any part of their body to be displayed in public. If the person wants to give consent for their body, or any part of it, to be displayed after their death, their consent must be written and witnessed. HTA regulation of the activity of public display provides assurance to the public that bodies or tissue from the deceased that are displayed to the public are handled with care and treated with respect.” 

Our ethos and values

In having a public display licence we aim to help the ‘public’ understand more about their body in health and disease. This may include the ‘every day’ person and also other groups not traditionally covered by the anatomy licence eg, beauticians, yoga teachers.

We want to be supportive of our local community needs through in-person events but also nationally and internationally through live stream events.

Respect is at the heart of all we do. We treat all of our donors and human material with respect and we request that respect is shown by all participants during an event. One way we demonstrate this is through our 'Thank you wall'.

Anatomy at BSMS

Anatomy at BSMS provides training to around 2,000 students and professionals that are studying medicine and allied health sciences every year.

Its renowned undergraduate curriculum provides students with the best of a traditional dissection experience, intertwined with the latest digital technology, embedded in clinical practice. At a postgraduate level the department works in collaboration with the Royal College of Surgeons providing highly specialised surgical training through their flagship courses. The department relies on the generous donation of bodies and needs around 60 donors a year to enable its work. 

In 2019, BSMS and the University of Sussex were awarded an HTA Public Display Licence with the aim to be able to use existing holdings (pathology and potted specimens, osteological material) to deliver events including public outreach events, widening access sessions and open days. 

The state-of-the-art facilities can be seen via our virtual tour below.

Take the virtual tour of our facilities here >

BSMS holds a wide collection of human bones and specimens in jars, all of which are used to help with the education of students and the public. 

BSMS is an equal partnership between the Universities of Sussex and Brighton together with NHS organisations throughout the South East region. BSMS has teaching buildings and student accommodation on both university campuses. All BSMS students have access to the facilities at both universities.  

BSMS is one of the anatomy schools in London and the South East who teaches through dissection.

Through Toni's donation specifically, our aim is to educate and not to cure cancer.

FAQs

I want to find out more about body donation – where can I go for more information? 

Visit the London Anatomy Office website here for more information about body donation. Here, you can access more information and fill in any forms if you are interested in donating your body. The Human Tissue Authority website also has lots of useful information about body donation. View the website here > 

If I donate my body, what will it be used for? 

If you donate (or bequest) your body to medical science after you die to a medical institution such as Brighton and Sussex Medical School, your body may be used to teach anatomy to medical students and other health care professionals as well as in surgical training, education or research.

What is the difference between body donation and organ donation?  

Body donation is where you consent to donating your body after you die to medical schools for educating and training medical students, doctors and other allied health students and professionals. Body donation can also mean that your body would be used to carry out research for medical education and surgical training purposes.  

Organ donation is where you consent to donate your organs to another individual who may be able to use your organs after your death. However, organ donation can only occur in certain circumstances where the organs can be harvested from the donor before they die. This is usually where the donor is being kept alive by a life support machine in hospital. In such circumstances, organ donation would be prioritised over body donation, since organ donation could save the life/lives of others.  

A person can give consent for body donation and organ donation, however only one of these will occur in reality. If organ donation (apart from the eyes) has been possible, body donation is not an option since medical schools only accept whole donors. Body donation is also not possible if a post-mortem has been performed.

If I donated my body to science, would it be used for public display?

Only if you selected the Public Display option, if that is an option at your local medical school. To our knowledge only BSMS has been granted this licence for such purpose. Museums hold Public Display Licences, if they have potted specimens they wish to show to the public.

I want to do what Toni did and donate my body for dissection, including public viewing / broadcast of this – what do I need to know? 

Complete the London Anatomy Office form and tick ‘Public Display’. We also advise that you tell your relatives. 

Please note: This can be done in your will, but it needs to be clear and may cause problems if our regulations change so we would recommend the body donation form. 

Please contact the London Anatomy Office via phone (020 7848 8042), email (lao@kcl.ac.uk) or visit their website here for further information. 

The Human Tissue Authority website also has lots of useful information about body donation. Please visit the HTA website to learn more about body donation and find the correct medical school for your area. Visit the website here >

How did this documentary come about? Did BSMS approach Channel 4 or the other way round? 

The donor came to BSMS in Spring 2020. BSMS approached Maverick TV, a TV production company the school had worked with previously and began filming footage in May 2021 that could be used to pitch to TV channels. Channel 4 became interested in airing the documentary and full filming for the documentary began in March 2022.  

Whose decision was it for BSMS to take part in the documentary? What governance process was this decision subject to? 

The Designated Individual and Head of Anatomy discussed with the family the consent that had been given by the donor and sought to understand the discussions of the donors intent. It was clear that they wanted a wide spread message of their story. The Head of Anatomy then took this to the Human Tissue Authority and the senior boards at both Universities, including gaining ethical approval for a study related to understanding students experiences of the teaching sessions.  

Why does BSMS do dissections and is this different to other medical schools? 

Anatomy at BSMS provides training to around 2,000 students and professionals that are studying medicine and allied health sciences every year. BSMS teaches using full body cadaveric dissection as well as prosections, 3D printed models and other digital resources. Not all medical schools in the UK do full body dissections, but we believe this is a fundamental part of our students’ education. 

What’s so unique about this documentary? Why hasn’t this been done before? 

BSMS applied and was granted a Public Display Human Tissue Licence in 2019, with the aim to be able to provide better health education to groups who are not covered by the Anatomy Licence (doctors and allied health care students). A change to the information pack and consent form for the London Anatomy Office was made. The LAO is the office that looks after body donations on BSMS' behalf. Toni was the first person to consent for Public Display. She consented for images (including video) to be taken and consented to not being anonymous, hence this is the first time this has occurred and a documentary has been able to follow her journey.

What permission/approval did BSMS need from the Human Tissue Authority? 

The donor gave consent under two HTA licences. Anatomical Examination (12098) and Public Display (12687). The activities undertaken under these licenses are in line with the scheduled purposes for which the licences were granted. In addition, because of the uniqueness of this case the Designated Individual had several discussions with the HTA? and received written confirmation prior to starting any activity. 

Did you need permission from Toni’s family/parents? 

Working with Toni’s family and friends is really important and was the first step in this process. Legally, Toni donated her body and no further consent from family was required for the anatomical dissection. But the anatomy team felt it was fundamental that they only undertook the documentary with the consent of the family. The family felt so passionately about helping tell Toni’s story that they wished to feature in the documentary. 

How can you be sure this is really what Toni wanted/ that she understood this was what she was signing up to? 

In life, Toni campaigned for greater understanding about her cancer on social media and through her business “Blink of an Eye”. She researched how she might donate her body to science for the purpose of public education and requested the forms to be able to do it.  She spoke with friends about it and wrote about it in her diary.  

Toni’s consultant confirmed to the Human Tissue Authority that she was of sound mind to be able to make the decision to donate her body for public display.  

Toni understood what she was agreeing to. We have worked very closely with Toni’s family throughout to ensure they continue to support everything that has happened. 

Under what licence was this done? 

The dissection filmed was done as part of the BSMS’s anatomy licence in an anatomy class of health and medical students. The documentary was carried out under both the anatomy licence and the public display licence owing to Toni’s choice to waive her anonymity.