I work in Phnom Penh, in a community health project. Despite thinking that I am well adjusted to life in Asia sometimes my world view and my boundaries between “medicine” and “life” are seriously challenged. The health project is staffed by young, locally trained nurses with a few older medical assistants trained at border camps. As our patients are generally managed well, I tend to assume a greater basic knowledge of anatomy and other medical sciences than may be the case.

I recently decided—having reached an impasse in my explanations of the relation between blood pressure in heart, lung, and liver—that it would be helpful to have an anatomy lesson with a fresh specimen. Mrs Vee, …