Getting consent into perspective

This article continues a debate with Gareth Jones about the ethics of anatomy. The article discusses the distinction between direct and indirect reasons to require the deceased's consent prior to anatomical use. Getting this distinction wrong has potentially radical and unwelcome implications for the ethics of many uses of dead bodies. The article then exposes an ambiguity in asking what anatomical uses are ethical: we must distinguish between, on the one hand, who ought to have the power to make decisions and, on the other, how those with power ought to exercise it. It then applies this distinction to the ethics of the public display of bodies for entertainment. Clin. Anat. 27:844–846, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.