Two U.S. colleges, the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), are selling donated bodies for Israeli military training, according to an investigation by Annenberg Media and The UCSD Guardian.
The findings have sparked ethical concerns and allegations of a "breach of trust" from grieving families who were never informed of the military use of their loved ones’ remains.
The investigation revealed that bodies donated for “medical research” to USC and UCSD were sold to the Navy for combat simulations.
In the last decade, USC earned more than $1 million from these contracts, which involve the transfer of “fresh tissue” cadavers from UCSD to USC-managed facilities at the Navy Trauma Training Center within Los Angeles General Medical Center.
While the universities describe the program as life-saving medical training, internal documents show the sessions involve "perfused" cadavers – bodies pumped with artificial blood to simulate battlefield trauma.
