Near the end of 2017, the United States Navy filed a notice of intent 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.
Since that notice, the Navy has paid USC more than $860,000 for at least 89 “fresh cadaver bodies,” 32 of which were used specifically for IDF training at Los Angeles General Medical Center.
One contract 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’s discretion, which would bring USC’s total earned for the last seven years to nearly $1.1 million.
While the three contracts in question make up less than 1% of USC’s 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 and here.)
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.
The Navy Trauma Training Center oversees the courses at L.A. General. In addition to courses with an established 30-day curriculum for Navy physicians, nurses and corpsmen preparing for deployment, the NTTC trains IDF surgical teams for 96 hours of surgical technician time per course.
Navy and IDF medics rotate through the Fresh Tissue Dissection Lab, jointly funded by Los Angeles County and USC, for “hands-on training on non-perfused and perfused cadaver bodies” to simulate battlefield injuries, according to an inactive 2023 contract. Perfused bodies are pumped with artificial blood to mimic “real-life” patients, which can only be done with fresh tissue.
According to a 2020 medical paper co-authored by Keck and Navy trauma surgeons, the “combat trauma surgery skills course” attended by IDF medical personnel used “fresh human cadavers.” These cadavers were provided by the L.A. County Office of Decedent Affairs, which manages cremation and burial for the county’s unclaimed bodies. Relatives might not claim a body for any number of reasons, including the cost of burial.
“Even though they’re deceased, they still deserve a level of respect and dignity and proper treatment that we would normally give to the living,” Thomas Champney, an anatomy professor at the University of Miami who researches the ethical use of body donors, said in a March interview.
Unlike organ donation, there’s “little to no regulation on the use of anatomical bodies,” said Champney, who helps run his university’s body donation program under Florida’s State Anatomical Board. Most medical schools operate under a “blanket consent” policy, and some states regulate body donation more closely than others.
Asked about the procurement and treatment of the cadavers, the Keck School of Medicine said, “The university operates its surgical skills center, including the acquisition of cadavers, in accordance with applicable regulations.”
In California, the use of unclaimed bodies for scientific or educational purposes is legal under the Health and Safety Codes.
Annenberg Media could not verify the source of the bodies, which are either procured through Office of Decedent Affairs or Keck’s Anatomical Gift Program, where donors consent to being used for teaching, scientific research and other purposes that USC may “deem advisable.”
Still, there’s no “informed consent,” 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’t consent at all, and the use of unclaimed bodies in medical education is widely considered unethical.
“We all know better. You have to have consent for this,” said a Keck physician who is not involved in the program but brought the documents to Annenberg Media’s attention. The physician, who declined to be identified out of fear of losing their job, said the Navy facility “wasn’t designed or developed to save lives. It was just to desensitize people to the trauma.”
“USC profits off of this,” 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 “disgusting” and noted they would refuse to work in the lab if asked.
When asked about the contracts, USC redirected Annenberg Media to L.A. General. The medical center responded, saying they are “proud of our longstanding partnership with the U.S. Navy through the Navy Trauma Training Center” but that “no foreign nationals participate through the L.A. County and U.S. Navy contract.”
“The Fresh Tissue Dissection Laboratory is a jointly funded resource designed to support the training of our physicians, faculty, and trainees,” L.A. General said. “The 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.”
The IDF contracts were made with Keck, which said in the statement that it provides “trauma training courses as part of our core commitment to saving lives and advancing the highest standards of medical care.”
“Since 2013, international medical personnel designated by the Navy have also participated in these training courses, including non-combatant surgeons, nurses and anesthesiologists from Israel,” Keck said. “Our 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.”
USC’s close relationship with the U.S. military isn’t new; it’s more than 100 years old.
Other universities — including the University of California, San Diego; the University of Maryland, Baltimore; and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston — also appear to have ongoing cadaver contracts with the Department of Defense, but none of them mention the IDF.
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.
While the partnership between USC and the Department of Defense that mentions “IDF personnel” and “fresh dissection training” began in 2017, the IDF surgical courses started in 2013, as reported in an archived Navy press release and medical paper.
The partnership strengthens the relationship with “one of our key military allies,” according to the Navy.
The federal contracts cover the costs of the cadavers — three bodies per IDF course, with multiple courses occurring each year, according to inactive contracts from 2023 and 2021. The funding also covers antibody tests for the bodies, refrigerator storage space, “cadaver perfusion services” to replicate blood flow and circulation, 96 hours of lab coordinator or “surgical technician time,” and disposable medical supplies, including scalpels, gloves and gauze.
The most recent contract has the potential to be extended until September 2026, which could mean securing more than $200,000 in additional funding.
Reporting by Reo, Yana Savitsky, Malcolm Caminero and Shane Dimapanat