In the recent controversy surrounding Pranit More’s comedy shows, a young medical student was seen making distasteful, inhuman comments about a cadaver’s private parts. The mocking was real, and the host and crowd joined her in this egregious act of ridicule on a public platform. As the video clip went viral, many influencers and fellow doctors criticized her, and the hospital in question is willing to take action against her. The police and cyber police have reportedly filed an FIR against her and are investigating the matter.

Though the person tried to apologize by issuing a video, the damage has been done. Apparently, the Association of Doctors is not pleased with the apology and has demanded stricter action against her under the code of conduct. The situation is not going to die down soon, and the medical student’s problems will mount.

In this context, let’s understand what the fuss is really about!

After the death of one person, the family donates the body to the medical college for the benefit of the students for anatomy and dissection. It’s the person’s will, or the family decides it later. Nevertheless, it’s a noble act, and the medical students should be grateful for the contribution to the practical study. In medical language, it’s called a cadaver. In other countries, students often don’t get the luxury of dissecting a cadaver, as the donations are very few. However, in India, People donate bodies willingly to support medical studies. In recent years, there’s been a shortage of cadavers in colleges as the donations have dried up a bit. Considering the gravity of the alleged case and widespread circulation of the clip, there will be a negative impact on organ and body donation across India, for sure.

As the author comes from an engineering background, he tried to elucidate as much information as possible from the credible medical fraternity about the cadaver. Apparently, there’s a cadaver oath that the 1st-year students take before the anatomy class, where they are supposed to dissect a cadaver. The cadaver should be treated with respect and dignity by the medical students, as it’s their first teacher in the real world, where they can learn professional ethics, empathy, and humility, as the cadaver is the ultimate sacrifice by a dead person. The Privacy and confidentiality of the cadaver should be upheld at all costs, in line with one’s moral compass. Even the students are advised against posting anything about the cadaver on the internet, or if by chance they have to post, then they should blur it. It’s just professional etiquette.

Although it’s the ideal case, in the real world, some students, out of curiosity and excitement at seeing a cadaver for the first time, cross the ethical line. They take pictures, make videos, and post on social media for fun. It sounds gross to non-medicos, but the medicos, being acquainted with the human body, somehow lose the empathy factor. The result is the misconduct of students who take it as dark humor and crack jokes among themselves. Every profession has its fair share of dark humor. But the important thing is not to spill it in public, let alone on the Internet. If these allegations against a few doctors are true, it’s very clear they have lost their moral compass somewhere along the line. Being a doctor is considered a god by many patients. This type of atrocious behavior doesn’t suit them at all.

Imagine the cadaver can speak and react to the scenario.

• It would have grabbed the curious, creepy hands of a few students whose brains lie in their knees with an icy-cold grip, letting them feel a tangible fear up front.
• It could scream in their ears: ” I’m not for your entertainment. The donation is for the medicine!”
• Imagine it could harass these unworthy ones in spirit wherever they go.

Hypothetical scenario aside, we should treat this case with utmost importance, given its sensitivity and the fact that the fraternity’s overall reputation is being maligned by unprofessional conduct. Imagine the reverse case: if a male doctor had said such things about a female cadaver. Imagine the uproar! If anyone is willing to let the female medical student go without any strict action, saying she’s a girl, then gender equality ends here!

Exemplary punishment should be imposed in this case. Ethics and empathy for others should be taught to this new breed of doctors first. If organ and body donation rates decline after this incident, who will be held responsible? The NEET exam should be made thorough so that only deserving candidates get through it. And lastly, medicine is a noble profession; let only the deserving and serious ones enter it. Try to keep the public’s trust intact before some students make a mockery of the fraternity as a whole.