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Student journalists say USC sold donated bodies to Navy; report questions donor consent and foreign medical training
Summary
Student reporters told Megatrends they found contracts dating to 2018 in which USC provided perfused cadavers to the U.S. Navy for a trauma course; the reporting alleges some cadavers were used in training courses that included foreign military medical personnel and families say donors were not told.
Student journalists interviewed on the program said they uncovered Navy contracts with the University of Southern California and that USC has supplied at least 89 cadavers to the U.S. Navy since 2018, generating over $1,000,000 from those contracts. The reporting described the use of "perfused" cadavers (recently deceased bodies not chemically preserved) in a Navy trauma course brought to Los Angeles and said contract language and photos indicate participation by foreign military medical teams.
One student journalist told the show that USC and UC San Diego donor agreements do not explicitly warn that a donated body could be used to train military medics, and family members interviewed said they were not informed about potential military use. "We received a callback saying that they would not comment on the presence of the Golani Brigade," one student said of USC's response to questions about the unit allegedly photographed near the training center. The reporter on the program said the Navy told them it would be inappropriate to share details about foreign military personnel.
The program cited contracts dating to 2018 and said USC has renewed related Navy contracts; it also played accounts from family members who revoked donations after learning how bodies were used. USC and UC San Diego were quoted in emails as saying the program "does not constitute military training, but rather educational" activity; the universities declined to provide further written confirmation about specific personnel. The Navy described instructors' efforts to recreate complex injury patterns for high-fidelity training but declined to provide personnel details the reporters sought.
The broadcast conveyed students' evidence (contracts, photographs) while noting limits to independent verification of some alleged foreign-unit participation and that USC refused to put some responses in writing. The show recommended readers consult the student reporting and contract documents for full details.
