MSNBC – It’s a rare day when Richard Drake turns down a dead body, but last week, he had no choice.
At 6-foot-1 and 350 pounds, the deceased in question was simply too big for the Cleveland Clinic Body Donation Program, which provides specimens for anatomy classes at the Lerner College of Medicine and elsewhere.
“Someone that’s shorter and carrying a lot of weight, that is a problem,” said Drake, director of anatomy and a professor of surgery. “The storage is one issue, but when you are obese, there’s a lot of tissue everywhere. The students don’t get as good a learning opportunity.”
Reluctantly, Drake informed the dead man’s family he’d have to turn down the donation request because their loved one exceeded the size limits for medical research…
Man, fat people cannot catch a break! It’s not bad enough that overweight people have to put up with society judging them while they’re alive…now they’ve got medical school anatomy classes turning them away in their death. One day you’re just trying to not crush the entire gallon of Ben & Jerry’s, yet willpower falls to the wayside, but at least you know you can donate your body to science to feel good about yourself. Nope. Sad day for all the Matt Foley’s of the world. This is such rubbish, we’ve got to put a stop to this discrimination. These medical schools need to get off their damn high horses. So what? You have to saw through a little extra fat tissue, get over yourself…med students could probably use the tri workout.
-bp
[lobbed by The King]