NATION : Cadavers Stack Up in Job Freeze

BALTIMORE — A month-old hiring freeze by the state has resulted in cadavers stacking up at the state Anatomy Board.

Ronald S. Wade, board administrator, is running the show single-handedly after his embalmer had a heart attack and his secretary quit.

Wade, who once had three embalmers working for him, told his board at an emergency meeting Thursday that processing nearly 800 bodies a year for use by doctors and teaching hospitals cannot be done by one person.

“I personally could not continue in that situation,” he said. And as bodies continue to arrive at a rate of 65 a month, “we quickly may have a public health problem.”

If storage space fills to capacity, “As a cadaver comes in the door, it will simply be sent to the crematory,” said board Chairman Michael N. Sheridan.