{"id":271101,"date":"2025-10-02T05:37:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T05:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/271101\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T05:37:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T05:37:15","slug":"usc-sold-dead-bodies-to-u-s-military-to-train-idf-medical-personnel-annenberg-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/271101\/","title":{"rendered":"USC sold dead bodies to U.S. military to train IDF medical personnel \u2013 Annenberg Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

Near the end of 2017, the United States Navy filed a notice of intent<\/a> to begin purchasing human cadavers from the University of Southern California. The purpose: Use dead bodies in trauma surgery training for the Israeli Defense Forces.<\/p>\n

Since that notice, the Navy has paid USC more than $860,000 for at least 89 \u201cfresh cadaver bodies,\u201d 32 of which were used specifically for IDF training at Los Angeles General Medical Center. <\/p>\n

One contract<\/a> is still ongoing. The Navy has already paid USC over half a million dollars, but the most recent contract allows for an additional $225,000 worth of cadavers to be purchased at the Navy\u2019s discretion, which would bring USC\u2019s total earned for the last seven years to nearly $1.1 million.<\/p>\n

While the three contracts in question make up less than 1% of USC\u2019s 367 contracts with the Navy, Annenberg Media was unable to locate any other U.S. university that had similar contracts involving the IDF. (See the other contracts here<\/a> and here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Medical professionals are also raising questions about whether families of the dead have any idea that their loved ones might be used to train soldiers. USC says it operates the programs in accordance with regulations. <\/p>\n

The Navy Trauma Training Center oversees the courses at L.A. General. In addition to courses with an established 30-day curriculum<\/a> for Navy physicians, nurses and corpsmen preparing for deployment, the NTTC trains IDF surgical teams for 96 hours of surgical technician time per course.<\/p>\n

Navy and IDF medics rotate through the Fresh Tissue Dissection Lab, jointly funded<\/a> by Los Angeles County and USC, for \u201chands-on training on non-perfused and perfused cadaver bodies\u201d to simulate battlefield injuries, according to an inactive 2023 contract<\/a>. Perfused bodies are pumped with artificial blood to mimic \u201creal-life\u201d patients, which can only be done with fresh tissue.<\/p>\n

According to a 2020 medical paper<\/a> co-authored by Keck and Navy trauma surgeons, the \u201ccombat trauma surgery skills course\u201d attended by IDF medical personnel used \u201cfresh human cadavers.\u201d These cadavers were provided by the L.A. County Office of Decedent Affairs<\/a>, which manages cremation and burial for the county\u2019s unclaimed bodies. Relatives might not claim a body for any number of reasons, including the cost of burial.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though they\u2019re deceased, they still deserve a level of respect and dignity and proper treatment that we would normally give to the living,\u201d Thomas Champney, an anatomy professor at the University of Miami who researches the ethical use of body donors, said in a March interview.<\/p>\n

Unlike organ donation, there\u2019s \u201clittle to no regulation on the use of anatomical bodies,\u201d said Champney, who helps run his university\u2019s body donation program under Florida\u2019s State Anatomical Board. Most medical schools operate under a \u201cblanket consent\u201d policy, and some states regulate body donation more closely than others.<\/p>\n

Asked about the procurement and treatment of the cadavers, the Keck School of Medicine said, \u201cThe university operates its surgical skills center, including the acquisition of cadavers, in accordance with applicable regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n

In California, the use of unclaimed bodies for scientific or educational purposes is legal under the Health and Safety Codes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Annenberg Media could not verify the source of the bodies, which are either procured through Office of Decedent Affairs or Keck\u2019s Anatomical Gift Program<\/a>, where donors consent to being used for teaching, scientific research and other purposes that USC may \u201cdeem advisable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, there\u2019s no \u201cinformed consent,\u201d or no way of knowing if the deceased individual would have consented to use by the Navy or IDF surgical teams specifically. Unclaimed bodies can\u2019t consent at all, and the use of unclaimed bodies in medical education is widely considered unethical<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know better. You have to have consent for this,\u201d said a Keck physician who is not involved in the program but brought the documents to Annenberg Media\u2019s attention. The physician, who declined to be identified out of fear of losing their job, said the Navy facility \u201cwasn\u2019t designed or developed to save lives. It was just to desensitize people to the trauma.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUSC profits off of this,\u201d said a fourth-year medical student who only gave the name Claire at a discussion panel organized by USC South Central Against Labor Exploitation on Tuesday night. The med student called the contracts \u201cdisgusting\u201d and noted they would refuse to work in the lab if asked.<\/p>\n

When asked about the contracts, USC redirected Annenberg Media to L.A. General. The medical center responded, saying they are \u201cproud of our longstanding partnership with the U.S. Navy through the Navy Trauma Training Center\u201d but that \u201cno foreign nationals participate through the L.A. County and U.S. Navy contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Fresh Tissue Dissection Laboratory is a jointly funded resource designed to support the training of our physicians, faculty, and trainees,\u201d L.A. General said. \u201cThe County has no agreement or role regarding any use of this laboratory by foreign military personnel. Such access, if any, falls under a separate agreement between the U.S. Navy and U.S.C.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IDF contracts were made with Keck, which said in the statement that it provides \u201ctrauma training courses as part of our core commitment to saving lives and advancing the highest standards of medical care.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSince 2013, international medical personnel designated by the Navy have also participated in these training courses, including non-combatant surgeons, nurses and anesthesiologists from Israel,\u201d Keck said. \u201cOur trauma training program is focused solely on preparing medical professionals to deliver lifesaving care wherever trauma occurs. The hands-on surgical training portion of the course is conducted exclusively in the Fresh Tissue Dissection Lab, a surgical education facility located within the historic LA General Hospital that services the USC\/LA General Medical Center residency programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

USC\u2019s close relationship with the U.S. military isn\u2019t new; it\u2019s more than 100 years<\/a> old. <\/p>\n

Other universities \u2014 including the University of California, San Diego<\/a>; the University of Maryland, Baltimore<\/a>; and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston<\/a> \u2014 also appear to have ongoing cadaver contracts with the Department of Defense, but none of them mention the IDF.<\/p>\n

The NTTC was established in 2002 under a military-civilian partnership with L.A. General, a trauma center and teaching hospital led by Keck faculty in Boyle Heights. L.A. General has been affiliated with USC since 1885, and doctors in residency regularly rotate through the fresh tissue dissection lab to practice and enhance their skills.<\/p>\n

While the partnership between USC and the Department of Defense that mentions \u201cIDF personnel\u201d and \u201cfresh dissection training\u201d began in 2017<\/a>, the IDF surgical courses started in 2013, as reported in an archived Navy press release<\/a> and medical paper<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The partnership strengthens the relationship with \u201cone of our key military allies,\u201d according to the Navy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The federal contracts cover the costs of the cadavers \u2014 three bodies per IDF course, with multiple courses occurring each year, according to inactive contracts from 2023<\/a> and 2021<\/a>. The funding also covers antibody tests for the bodies, refrigerator storage space, \u201ccadaver perfusion services\u201d to replicate blood flow and circulation, 96 hours of lab coordinator or \u201csurgical technician time,\u201d and disposable medical supplies, including scalpels, gloves and gauze.<\/p>\n

The most recent contract<\/a> has the potential to be extended until September 2026, which could mean securing more than $200,000 in additional funding.<\/p>\n

Reporting by Reo, Yana Savitsky, Malcolm Caminero and Shane Dimapanat<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Near the end of 2017, the United States Navy filed a notice of intent to begin purchasing human…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":271102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,140797,276,140795,4784,140791,140794,2961,224,140793,5337,140798,140799,140792,8049,25730,140796,76601,11016],"class_list":{"0":"post-271101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-cadavers","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-fresh-tissue-dissection-lab","12":"tag-idf","13":"tag-israeli-defense-forces","14":"tag-l-a-general","15":"tag-la","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-los-angeles-general-medical-center","18":"tag-losangeles","19":"tag-navy-trauma-training-center","20":"tag-nttc","21":"tag-trauma-surgery","22":"tag-u-s-military","23":"tag-u-s-navy","24":"tag-unclaimed-bodies","25":"tag-university-of-southern-california","26":"tag-usc"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115302959936979192","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}