Gunther von Hagens and the Ethics of Body Worlds
Gunther von Hagens and the Ethics of Body Worlds
Melanie St. Clair
Abstract
Gunther von Hagens opened Body Worlds in 1985. The exhibition displayed taxidermied human remains with the mission statement of educating its visitors. His exhibit proved to be a gross display of unethical practice as the sources of his bodies went under investigation. This article explores the ethics of the exhibit through a survey of some of the public media coverage on it.
“Today more than 50 million people have seen Body Worlds which makes it the most successful traveling exhibition in the world. The success of Body Worlds enabled me to create the most innovative and largest plastination center in the world, in Guben, Germany in 2006.” - Gunther von Hagens
Gunther von Hagens is a German anatomist and the inventor of plastination, the revolutionary technique for preserving flesh after death. His traveling exhibit, Body Worlds, displays hundreds of plastinated human cadavers and disembodied organs. Hagen’s breakthrough was patented in 1977. The educational value in touchable, perfectly preserved bodies was not lost on Hagens. He began his work on the attraction that would soon become his infamous legacy. The first Body Worlds exhibit opened 1985 in Tokyo. Admission was initially free, but the popularity of his exhibit created a completely new market in which Hagens had complete dominance. The potential earnings from his exhibitions would be enough to cover the cost of plastination while also generating profit. Slowly, Body Worlds would turn into Hagens’ cash cow. As a result, the exhibit would not live up to its mission statement. Hagen’s scientific-artistic practices were unveiled to be unethical, reckless and mostly driven by his interest in growing his business. In the 2000s, fifteen years after its initial debut, investigations revealed Body Worlds had been exploiting the unclaimed bodies of executed criminals, political prisoners, and the homeless in its showcases.
Hagens first had the idea that would lead to the development of plastination while working as an assistant anatomist after receiving his doctorate from the University of Heidelberg in 1975. The job often frustrated him when working on poorly preserved bodies. The irritation and repulsion of working with rotting specimens drove Hagens to create his own method of preservation. The process forced dead cells to absorb liquid polymers and hardened them through chemical reactions. In a spectacular achievement for the medical sciences, bodies that absorbed the polymers would essentially become plastic. Körperwelten, better known by its English name Body Worlds, contained varying displays of human remains including full muscular systems, skin, organs, and even intact nervous systems.
Initially, Hagens started off with twenty bodies arranged in stiff, upright positions. By 2001 the exhibit had expanded to Britain, Germany, Japan, and Korea. In order to retain the interest of the public as the exhibition grew, Hagens had his labs arrange the bodies more artistically. The corpses were posed and plastinated in dynamic, visually interesting poses. There was a new emphasis in showing the body in action: running, jumping, stretching, playing chess, and riding bicycles. The exhibition outraged the public as the displays strayed further from education and closer to spectacle (Stobart). Corpses were shown having intercourse and mimicking popular art. Arguably the most controversial is a plastinated pregnant woman lounging on the ground with her stomach split open. Her organs are rearranged in order to show a congenitally disfigured fetus inside her womb. Though the exhibit still claimed the primary goal of education, the shock value of its models brought doubt upon Hagens’ intentions. The sensationalization of the deceased disturbed many of its viewers. With increasing outrage and media attention, the public began to question where the exhibit had found its bodies (Ulaby). After Body Worlds was unable to match consent forms with bodies, Hagens’ labs were investigated by their respective local authorities (Tuffs).
Prior to the investigation of Body Worlds, Hagens was involved in a case regarding the illicit sale of unclaimed bodies. A Siberian coroner was charged after attempting to illegally sell fifty-six unclaimed corpses to Hagens. Eight of the cadavers had already been delivered to Hagens’ laboratories. These fifty-six unclaimed bodies included convicts, the homeless, and disabled people. Human remains had been sold as “biomasses” to Hagens and various other professors. The families of eight of these cadavers had been given urns containing fake ashes while their loved one’s bodies were sold (Walsh). Hagens testified against the coroner, claiming he had no idea that the bodies were sourced illegally. The ethics of purchasing bodies for plastination and public display are questionable regardless of the legal standpoint. Nonetheless, there was no evidence against Hagen’s knowledge of the crime.
It is now reasonable to suspect that he may have been aware and complacent in the sale as more information about the Hagens came to light after the trial. Less than a year after the incident with the coroner, Hagen’s lab in Kyrgyzstan was taken under investigation. Several hundred bodies in Hagens’ possession were discovered to be illegally acquired from prisons, psychiatric units, and hospitals (Tuffs). Hagens denied all accusations. He insisted that since the cadavers in his labs were not being used for profit in Body Worlds that he had broken no laws. Despite Hagens’ claims that none of the unethically acquired bodies were displayed, Body Worlds was not able to prove the identities of their displayed bodies at the time of the lab raid. Regardless of whether Body Worlds was deliberately displaying unethically sourced bodies, their carelessness towards the documentation of plastinates created an environment where any body or organ showcased could not match any consent form.
The alarming discovery in Kyrgyzstan warranted investigation of his labs in Germany and China. After searching the Chinese laboratory, two cadavers with bullet holes in their skulls were discovered. The lab in China was situated between three prison camps that were holding thousands of detainees, including political prisoners. One such prison held many members of the Falun Gong movement, a religion that was under persecution in China, that were being systematically executed. Hagens went on record about the two undocumented corpses saying that he could not prove that the two bodies were not executed, but that he personally believed that they were not (Harding). Despite his gut feeling, the surrounding prison camps had executed 2,468 of its detainees in 2001, mostly by gunfire. The accusations of buying executed prisoners were confirmed after he admitted that seven of his displays in Germany showed evidence of execution. Hagens has profited from executed prisoners, possibly the victims of genocide, by taxidermizing their bodies (Harding). In an attempt to redeem himself, Hagens ordered the cremation of all bodies and plastinates that showed evidence of execution. Despite all these grievances, Hagens’ lab in China continues to operate. Body Worlds continued to operate regardless of increasing protest. Hagens and his supporters claim that the educational value of Body Worlds is too valuable to abandon. Ignoring his previous crimes, Hagens continued to act as the head of his attraction.
Body Worlds is still open for the public in permanent locations and as a traveling exhibit. Adult tickets currently sell for US$ 27. Between 1989 and 2006, Body Worlds made an estimated US$ 40 million (Forbes). This figure excludes private sales of plastinated bodies and their sister exhibition, Animal Inside Out. In the past twenty years that number has only grown. Hagens’ success and profits have inspired copycats. Bodies: the Exhibition openly admits to sourcing their cadavers from unclaimed bodies (Ulaby). Lesser known exhibitions are not placed under the same pressure as Body Worlds to provide proof of the legitimacy of their specimens (Mao). The ethics of profiting from non-consenting donors is overshadowed by the morbid fascination of many of the visitors. Body Worlds’ popularity created a group of fans devoted enough to give their own bodies to Hagens. As of 2018, 16,000 people have signed paperwork and paid the fee to cover the cost of their own plastination (Body Worlds). Now, Body Worlds is able to prove the identity of each of their displays and match them with consent forms. With the cost of service covered by his eager and unknowing donors, Hagens was able to create a business model to maximize his profits. The website of Body Worlds also includes private sales of plastinates to qualified individuals. None of the sale records nor the consent forms are available to the public.
It is an undeniable fact that Body Worlds has an immense amount of educational value, but its questionable past should not be buried. Hagens knowingly profited off of unconsenting donors, violated the dead, and was willing to use victims of systematic genocide in his display. Labeling his actions as educational is an alarming display of inhumanity. As a German doctor and the head of Body Worlds, Hagens has an obligation to ensure that his actions are completely morally sound. Though the display has passed recent ethics checks (Ulaby), Hagens shows little remorse for his previous actions, stating that he runs a business. For instance, he refuses to release public paper trails for his cadavers (Ulaby). As a result, his intentions and actions do not align with Body World’s mission statement of promoting education value.
Hagens announced that he had been diagnosed with Parkinsons in 2011. His condition decreases the chance that legal action will ever be taken against him. Despite his attempts to amend, he is a man who knowingly profited off bodies from non-consenting donors. He has faced no substantial legal repercussions from his actions and a lack of regulations allows the continued operation of Body Worlds and its copycat exhibitions. However, there is some hope for the future. Since 2017, in order to ensure ethical sourcing of their bodies, the Body Donation Program was created by Hagens and his organization. This program helps private and public entities to legally and ethically collect body donations for new plastinates, which is a good step in the right direction when it comes to the ethical practice of plastination.
Melanie St. Clair completed her first year at Appalachian State University in 2023. She is currently attending Guilford Technical Community College before transferring back to pursue a degree in Arts Administration. She first learned about Body Worlds after attending a copycat exhibition to study anatomy.
Works Cited
Harding, L. (2004, January 23). Von Hagens forced to return corpses to China. The Guardian. Retrieved October 29, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/jan/23/arts.china
Body worlds - take an eye-opening journey under the skin! Körperwelten. (2022, February 2). Retrieved October 29, 2022, from https://bodyworlds.com/
Tickets. Körperwelten. (2022, April 12). Retrieved October 29, 2022, from https://bodyworlds.com/exhibitions/tickets/
Tuffs, A. (2003, November 8). Von Hagens faces investigation over use of bodies without consent. BMJ (Clinical research ed.). Retrieved November 1, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1126850/
Stobart, J. (2002, September 1). Controversial exhibit reveals what lies beneath. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 2, 2022, from https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-sep-01-fg-bodyworld1-story.html
Walsh, Nick. Guardian News and Media. (2002, October 17). Pathologist charged in plastination case. The Guardian. Retrieved November 2, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/17/russia.arts
Martinez, Britta. "Body Worlds". Embryo Project Encyclopedia Retrieved November 8, 2022 (2012-11-27). ISSN: 1940-5030 http://embryo.asu.edu/handle/10776/8012.
Mao, F. (2018, April 26). 'real bodies' exhibition causes controversy in Australia. BBC News. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-43902524
Forbes Magazine. (2013, June 6). Goriest show on Earth. Forbes. Retrieved November 11, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2006/0130/069.html?sh=560074d02d34
Original & copycat - body worlds. (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2023, from https://bodyworlds.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Original-Copycat-webtext-E-2018.pdf
Mailonline, N. W. F. (2018, April 11). Real bodies: The exhibition cadavers may come from Chinese political prisoners. Daily Mail Online. Retrieved February 21, 2023, from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5602971/Real-Bodies-Exhibition-cadavers-come-Chinese-political-prisoners.html
NRS: Chapter 451 - Dead Bodies. (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2023, from https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-451.html
Ny State senate Bill S3272. NY State Senate. (2022, January 6). Retrieved February 21, 2023, from https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/S3272
Article 11.1: Commercial Display of Dead Human Bodies. American Legal Publishing. (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2023, from https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/san_francisco/latest/sf_police/0-0-0-2275
Rfi. (2010, September 16). French court bans human remains exhibit. RFI. Retrieved February 21, 2023, from https://www.rfi.fr/en/culture/20100916-french-court-bans-human-remains-exhibit
Human Tissue Act. UK Parliment. (2014, May 1). Retrieved February 21, 2023, from https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/death-dying/dying-and-death/bodysnatching/
NBC Universal News Group. (2014, September 23). 'dr death' exhibit of preserved corpses banned in Berlin. NBCNews.com. Retrieved February 21, 2023, from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/dr-death-exhibit-preserved-corpses-banned-berlin-n209441
Ulaby, N. (2006, August 11). Origins of exhibited cadavers questioned. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2006/08/11/5637687/origins-of-exhibited-cadavers-questioned.
Picture: “Body Worlds Amsterdam” by https://www.flickr.com/people/141644124@N06
