The Law and Ethics of Using the Dead in Research

Abstract

Although death is universal and unavoidable, and although research on the dead is essential to the well-being of the living, medical and legal professionals and ethicists have failed to carefully consider the issue of using the dead and their remains in research. This thesis will explore how the dead are treated (from a research perspective) and how the dead may be treated (from a legal perspective) in order to construct a possible framework in which medical and legal professionals can consider how the dead should be treated (from an ethical perspective). It begins with a brief introduction to how and why the dead's legal and ethical rights matter in research. Chapter I provides an introduction to death and the dead from a social and medical perspective, and explores the various ways the dead are treated outside of the research context. Chapter II analyzes historical and current uses of the dead in research with an emphasis on the posthumous treatment of physical remains. Chapter III provides a brief assessment of the existing law of the dead in the United States. Chapter IV concludes this thesis with a call for change in the law and ethics of cadaveric research.