Debrecen University Anatomy Scandal

The Debrecen University Anatomy Scandal is an academic dispute regarding medical students at University of Debrecen allegedly accessing the dissecting rooms of the Anatomy department illegally and smuggling body parts out to their dorms and private residences for extracurricular study with the help of a few officials. The Medical Faculty of Debrecen University came under harsh criticism after broadcast of camera footage on Norwegian television in April 2005. This was followed by reactions from Hungarian and Norwegian officials and several investigations.

It is not clear from the results of these investigations whether the actions shown were filmed at the university or involved students of the university.

Origin of the affair

It first caught the media's attention when a news bulletin broadcast on 24 April by TV 2 (Norway) broadcasted hidden camera footage claiming medical students at Debrecen Medical University in Hungary had stolen body parts and taken them home for some extracurricular study. The first scene of the report showed Norwegian medical students paying a university employee 2,000 forints (about $10) to unlock the anatomy lab for some after-hours practice before their anatomy exam. Some students, the program claimed, took organs to their rooms to be able to examine them more thoroughly. After the first reports surfaced, the story got attention from Hungarian and Norwegian media and soon followed investigations by both Hungarian and Norwegian officials and also an internal investigation by Debrecen University.

Reactions from Hungarian and Norwegian officials

Norwegian Health Minister Ansgar Gabrielsen issued a statement alleging that the lab employee was selling body parts, according to the Hungarian daily Nepszabadsag, he raised the possibility of making it harder for holders of Hungarian medical degrees to qualify in Norway.

Hungarian Health Minister Jeno Racz condemned the act and called the students “grave robbers” on a television show, expressing his hope that no student implicated in such practices would ever graduate to become a doctor. Such students would probably also look at real patients as objects, he said.

Investigation results

When the results of the university's internal investigation were released on the evening of 1 May, the students' story began to unravel. An official inventory going back to two years showed no missing body parts. Nor could the university confirm that the televised scenes were in reality shot in its anatomy lab or dorm rooms.

On 2 May, the head of the association of foreign medical students, Ramzi Azbarga, alleged that the Norwegian television crew had unsuccessfully tried to persuade several students to smuggle organs out of the anatomy lab. Ramzi made these claims at a press conference announcing the results of the university's investigation.

As the head of the medical school's anatomy department, Miklos Antal, admitted on state television, unlike its Western European counterparts, the University of Debrecen lacks the resources to provide students with 24-hour access to its laboratories. “Students can only use the lab from 8 to 5, and only if it is not taken by a class,” he said. It also emerged that Antal had himself claimed to have actually run into students working overtime in the lab on 9 and 14 April.

Dr. Miklos Antal was suspended for the duration of the university's probe and reinstated on 2 May – the same day he received an award from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences – The professor expressed his bitterness that after “30 years of fair-and-square work” the university had thrown out the presumption of innocence and suspended him without proof of his guilt.

Although the university's investigation failed to turn up missing body parts, the biological preparations shown in the media footage were never proven to have originated from the Department of Anatomy, allowing for the notion that the 'stolen' body parts were in reality forgeries. Police continue to study the case and have initiated procedures against the university employee thought to have allowed students into the lab after hours. He had already been given an oral and then a written warning from the university.

Hungarian Media reports

Many students have admitted to the Hungarian media that they had conducted unauthorized studies of corpses in laboratories and have tried to take organs out of laboratories. A student told the daily Nepszava, “if you want to prepare for the exam seriously, you really do need more practice time – so you help yourself with 'innovative methods.' " These methods include unauthorized practice in the lab or even in the pathology departments of smaller local hospitals, students said. But they denied stealing organs. Some claimed that the Norwegian television footage “looked scripted."

That at least some students feel nine hours of access to labs is insufficient was confirmed by a number of medical students at Debrecen as well as from other universities. As one student told the online magazine Origo, “the textbook costs 50,000 forints [$255] … and during the lab practice, there were 30 students studying two brains. No wonder some try to take [the brain] home.”

Nepszabadsag quoted an unnamed professor as saying that the medical teaching facilities at Debrecen were built for 60 students, but in order to increase financial resources, the university now accepts 200 Hungarian and over 300 foreign students for each class.

External links

• TV2, April 24, 2005: Handler med likdeler (Norwegian)
• TV2, April 25, 2005: Vi vil ikke ha slike leger (Norwegian)
• TV2, May 05, 2005: Legestudenter brøt ikke loven (Norwegian)
• The Budapest Sun, April 28, 2005: Students caught smuggling body parts from university (English)
• Híradó Online, April 26, 2005: Horror a kollégiumban: már vizsgálják a titkos boncolásokat(Hungarian)
• Híradó Online, April 26, 2005: Szabadon boncolhattak a diákok éjjel az egyetemen(Hungarian)
• Híradó Online, April 27, 2005: Szervcsempészet - a boncmesterek etikai normáival ellentétes a debreceni eset(Hungarian)
• Híradó Online, April 27, 2005: Szervbotrány - a rendőrség is nyomoz, felfüggesztettek egy professzort(Hungarian)
• Híradó Online, May 02, 2005: A norvég tévések beszélték rá a diákokat a szervcsempészésre?(Hungarian)
• RTL Klub Híradó, May 02, 2005: Kacsa az illegális boncolás(Hungarian)
• Magyar Nemzet Online, April 27, 2005: Felfüggesztések a „boncolási” botrány miatt (Hungarian)
• Népszabadság, April 28, 2005: Bonckés alatt a diákok származása (Hungarian)
• Csak a boncmester vétett(Hungarian)