The art of medicine receives little attention in the majority of medical schools' programs, which is especially clear when it comes to teaching students about death. In this paper, we argue in favour of early introduction of the topic of death and dying in the anatomy course in medical schools.According to studies, while dissecting cadavers is often a fascinating learning experience for students, for others it is traumatic, and if this issue is not addressed, students may utilise depersonalization and denial as a coping mechanism It describes the experiences students had during dissection in two distinct medical schools. A traditional curriculum was used to construct the University of Massachusetts programme, which uses lectures and small-group discussions to examine humanistic topics. Dissection and patient care are compared, and frank discussion is had about different coping mechanisms. In the first week of medical school, students in Dalhousie Medical School's problem-based curriculum examine death bereavement and learn about the body donor programme and student support networks. An extensive curriculum on death and dying is included in this programme. Both schools give prospective students tours of the dissection labs before to the start of the course, and at the conclusion of the academic year, students plan memorial services for the body donors. These instances show how death education can be introduced early on in the medical curriculum and help to cultivate practitioners who are sensitive to larger issues relating to human mortality. Clinical AnaesKey words: anatomy; dissection; death; medical ededucation thesis0:118-122, 1997