Press Coverage
Life after death
By Paul Harasim
September 4, 2005 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
The human feet -- 12 of them carefully cut off just above the ankle -- were fastened to surgical stations around the simulated operating room.
Soon, they would be sliced and drilled open by 20 orthopedic surgeons attending a training workshop at the Medical Education and Research Institute of Nevada, or MERIN, in Henderson.
But for the moment, Dr. Carl Hasselman, the first surgeon to perfect a new surgical procedure for patients suffering from degenerative joint disease of the great toe joint, tried to give the surgeons a sense of the operation by working on an artificial body part.
As his drill whirred, the surgeons crowded in to see how Hasselman, a clinical instructor from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, would prepare a foot for an implant.
Then the other surgeons, who came from across the country for the workshop sponsored by the Arthrosurface company, went to work on plastic feet.
Hasselman watched but doubted that this part of the training would be very profitable.
"Until you actually work on a real foot with human tissue, you just can't get a good feel for it," Hasselman said during a quick break. "You definitely don't want surgeons going to work on people before they work with human tissue. That's how you end up with unsuccessful surgeries. That's why the cadaver training they'll get here in a few minutes is so important."
Nothing else used in surgical training, he said, is as good as cadavers -- not live animals, artificial tissues or computer simulators.
For six months, MERIN, located adjacent to Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine, has provided a venue for surgeons from around the world to practice on cadavers.
"This place puts other training centers to shame," said Hasselman, stressing that the size of the facility and the equipment inside give surgeons the most realistic training possible.
The 18,000-square-foot facility includes a surgical amphitheater, nine surgical suites, a lecture hall and a cadaveric preparation and storage facility.
"I just decided to take the best parts of other training facilities across the nation and put them all together," said Dr. Michael Crovetti, Henderson orthopedic surgeon and MERIN founder.
"I drew it out on a piece of paper when I was coming back from a facility in another part of the country where I taught," said Crovetti, who earlier founded The Bone & Joint Institute of Southern Nevada, Peak Performance Therapy & Fitness Center, Nevada Sports Academy and iPed Solutions.
"I just didn't see why Southern Nevada couldn't have the best one of these in the country," he said.
It's paying off locally as well as nationally and internationally as medical companies introduce new surgical interventions to surgeons by holding workshops at the facility.
"We've found this a great place to train surgeons in new surgical options," said Brady Dunham of Arthrosurface, a company that specializes largely in repairing damaged joints.
In July, six local orthopedic surgeons participated in training for a new shoulder procedure in the United States. And last month, local physicians began training in the use of computer-assisted surgery for performing hip and knee replacement.
"This facility makes it much easier to keep up with the latest developments in my field," said local orthopedist Dr. Donald Mackay, who was training to use the implant for the great toe joint.
Early next year, local, national and international surgeons will be trained at MERIN on a new hip replacement surgery procedure developed in Europe.
As impressed as training physicians were by the $2.5 million facility, they stressed that what is most important is the opportunity to work with cadavers.
"You really can't sense what it's like to do a procedure correctly until you're working with human tissue," said Dr. Eugene Chang of Anchorage, Alaska.
MERIN officials realize that the long-term success of the nonprofit educational facility hinges on the willingness of Nevadans to donate their bodies to science. To that end, MERIN has set up the Generations Anatomical Donation Program.
"People should know that their bodies will be kept in Southern Nevada for use, solely to help others," said Jennifer Woodie, who manages MERIN. "What happened at UCLA will never happen here. We're not going to be selling body parts."
Last year, top officials at UCLA suspended the California university's Willed Body Program and apologized for the apparent sale of body parts to research companies after bodies were donated to the school. The director of the program and another middleman were arrested.
Federal law forbids profiting from the sale of body parts. A body could be sold for as much as $300,000 for its parts.
Dr. Ed Zimmerman, a local cosmetic surgeon whose 89-year-old father, Sidney, donated his body to MERIN, said he believes a donation is "the one final positive statement you can make on the curriculum vitae of your life."
"You are helping the quality of life of so many others," he said. "I was very impressed with the tactful way they took care of my father."
Body donation can be arranged through a MERIN counselor at 933-5627. There is no cost to the family in regard to the donation, including transportation to the facility from the place of death.
Donations may be declined because of a medical history that includes the diagnoses of hepatitis B or C and/or HIV infection.
MERIN retains the bodies, which are cremated, for as long as two years. Because of the length of the program, the remains will not be returned. Donor families are invited to an annual memorial service that honors donors. Although families will usually hold their own memorials immediately after death, a viewing is not possible because a special preparation is necessary for medical research.
As Hasselman prepared to show surgeons the best way to work on a painful great toe -- an ailment that historians say made Henry VIII cry out in pain -- he talked about why people need to donate bodies to science.
"If you want to save lives, it's a good idea," he said.