By the ISMA Medical Student Society

Nov. 10-13 was the 2018 Interim Meeting of the American Medical Association – Medical Student Section (AMA-MSS), where medical students and elected delegates convened in National Harbor, Md., to debate the issues facing medicine, present research and form connections with medical students from across the nation. Medical students drafted resolutions proposing solutions to the greatest issues in health care policy, which were debated by their peers. The ISMA student delegates introduced Improving Body Donation Regulation (Resolution 11). Resolution author Leena Aljobeh, an MS-II at Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSOM), said she was moved by a memorial service IUSOM holds for families of those who donated their bodies for use in her anatomy and cadaver lab.

“With the family members of our patients at the service, it was quite meaningful when they were assured of the constant respect that our first patients were shown throughout and beyond the entire duration of lab,” she said. Albojah later learned that body donations, unlike donations of organs and vascular tissue, are regulated by state rather than federal authority. “This allows for gaps and variations in regulation, especially during interstate transfer of bodies, and misleading marketing that targets poor and minority communities with advertising and financial incentives,” she said. “As adopted, the resolution asks the AMA to recognize the need for ethical, transparent and consistent body donation regulations.”

Albojah hopes the resolution will bring attention to an important issue and set a policy precedent for future guidelines and legislation regulating body donation.

Two prominent conversations revolved around the resolutions “Opposing Unregulated Firearm Manufacture” and “Naloxone Incorporation in BLS.”

Opposing Unregulated Firearm Manufacture (Resolution 7): In the face of rising gun violence in our country, medical students from the University of Connecticut proposed the AMA should support legislation in the House and the Senate that opposes non-commercial manufacture of firearms and the distribution of 3D firearm blueprints. They further proposed a statement of concern be sent directly to Congress and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Naloxone Incorporation in Basic Life Support (Resolution 13): To help combat the opioid epidemic, students from Rowan School of Osteopathic Medicine and New Jersey Medical School proposed the American Heart Association and American Red Cross incorporate naloxone training in basic life support (BLS) courses. Their goal is to educate more laypersons about how to identify opioid overdose and administer naloxone after calling emergency responders.

To read highlights of the AMA MSS meeting, visit www.ismanet.org/AMA-MSS18.