Women who will live forever

Abstract

Introduction

The development of anatomy can be contributed to in various ways. Throughout history, anatomy has essentially been governed by men. Little is said about the women without whom the teaching of anatomy would not have been possible - women who donated their bodies so that others could learn from them – women donors.

Aims

This study aims to analyse the donor base, focusing on women donors who joined the Conscious Body Donation Programme at the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice and declared donation of their bodies for scientific and teaching purposes. The principles of the Conscious Body Donation Programme in Poland are also discussed using the example of the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, which initiated the programme in 2003.

Materials and methods

The analysis covered the donors database maintained at the Medical University of Silesia from 2000 till now. The study included such aspects as the number of declarations made, gender, age of donors, number of resignations from the body donation program, and the number of withdrawals by the university from accepting a donor's body. The results obtained were subjected to statistical analysis.

Results

Among 2091 donors, 53.12 % were female (n = 1589) and 46.88 % were male (n = 1402). The number of declarations has been steadily increasing since 2000. Analysing the number of declarations made by women - the highest number of declarations was made in 2009 (n = 112), 2017 (n = 191), and 2023 (n = 123 declarations). The average age at which women made declarations was 63.12 ± 13.82 years. The mean age of death was 78 ± 10.48 years with the mean age of death of all donors being 75.7 ± 10.81 years. The minimum age of declaration was 18 years, the maximum was 98 years. When analysing the age ranges in which pledges were made, women were most likely to pledge between 60 and 70 years of age (525 declarations). By 2024, 51 women had resigned from becoming donors. The average age of resignation is 63.75 ± 13.52 years. The minimum age of resignation was 26 years and the maximum was 87 years.

Conclusions

Currently, medical knowledge is growing rapidly. The nobility of donors, including female donors, who choose to donate their bodies for scientific and teaching purposes, reaches far beyond the grave. Such women live on forever remembered by students and then by doctors, physiotherapists, nurses and midwives in a variety of working circumstances often saving human lives, because no teaching aid can illustrate the human body as perfectly as the human body.