USC sold dozens of dead bodies to the U.S. Navy to use for medical trauma training for Israel Defense Forces, according to contracts and a published report.
The Navy has paid more than $860,000 for at least 89 bodies, 32 of which were used for the IDF training, according to the student-led USC Annenberg Media. Under the terms, USC procures and stores the bodies, allows the use of the Fresh Tissue Dissection Cadaver Lab inside Los Angeles General Medical Center and assigns faculty and staff to assist with the Navy Trauma Training Center’s program.
One of the Navy’s contracts gave $516,632 to USC for “cadavers for IDF training” over the past two years and allows for another $224,636 in potential purchases from USC by the end of 2026.
Agreements in 2021 and 2023 called for USC to provide 12 “fresh tissue cadaver bodies” per year on which the IDF could be trained. A description of the program, published in 2018, states that the U.S. military decided to use cadavers because “credentialing issues” prevented “foreign medical students” from touching patients at the medical facility.
Under the program, artificial blood is pumped into the cadavers to allow for “realistic learning of anatomy, experience in instrumentation handling, and use of actual technical procedure” to treat traumatic injuries. A 2020 study of the practice by a team that included Navy surgeons and the director of the Keck School of Medicine’s Division of Trauma Surgery and Surgical Critical Care found the use of perfused cadavers — those with artificial blood in their veins — led to “demonstrated improvements in team dynamics and technical skill evaluations” among surgical teams.
The Keck School of Medicine at USC did not respond to questions about the origins of the bodies, or how consent was obtained from the deceased or their families. USC Annenberg Media’s report indicated the bodies came from Los Angeles County’s Office of Decedent Affairs, which handles decedents whose remains are unclaimed or unidentified, or Keck’s Anatomical Gift Program.
A spokesperson for Keck provided a broad statement on behalf of the school.
“For more than two decades, U.S. Navy medical personnel have completed trauma training courses provided by the USC Surgical Skills Simulation and Education Center,” the statement reads. “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. Our trauma training program is focused solely on preparing medical professionals to deliver lifesaving care wherever trauma occurs.”
The university operates “its surgical skills center, including the acquisition of cadavers, in accordance with applicable regulations,” according to the statement.
The use of unclaimed bodies for “scientific and educational purposes” is permitted under California law. However, the American Association for Anatomy, when it released its recommendations and best practices for human body donation in December 2024, deemed the practice unethical and called on donation programs to “avoid using the bodies of unclaimed or unidentified individuals,” even though it is legal in some states.
Such programs should “clearly and transparently document the intended” use of the body through an informed consent process, the association wrote.
USC sold dead bodies to Navy for Israel Defense Forces medical training program
