Medical personnel get practice cuts at Henderson facility

The scene - several doctors clustered around an operating table, others watching from seats above throughout the medical amphitheater - looks like an episode of "Grey's Anatomy."

But this isn't TV, and the stakes are much higher than Nielsen ratings.

In an industrial park in Henderson just off U.S. 95, doctors at the Medical Education and Research Institute of Nevada (MERIN) are perfecting techniques they hope eventually will extend and improve the lives of thousands around the world.

The men and women they operate on will never walk out of the hospital. But because of their generosity, many other patients will.

The main differences between the room at MERIN and a typical operating room are that incense is burned to keep the odor at bay, and the fact that the patients have already succumbed to illness, age or accidents.

During Thursday's procedure, only a pair of knees - one each from two different patients - protrude from below light blue sheets as a group of orthopedic surgeons from Idaho hover around the circular room testing new equipment and techniques. Other doctors watch from above on four 50-inch plasma screen televisions.

The rest of the bodies have been covered, leaving few clues about their age or sex, though one foot has silver nail polish on the toes.

In order to pursue the research, MERIN's administrators need people to give perhaps the greatest gift all. They need people as giving as the silver-toed person.

They need, to be blunt, bodies.

"We never even know how many people's lives are touched by it," said Amy Oddo, executive director of the non profit.

MERIN is the only bioskills facility in the state and the largest in the West. Surgeons from across America and more than a dozen foreign countries have worked at the Henderson facility since it opened in April 2005.

This year more than 6,000 doctors, nurses, physicians assistants and paramedics have used the building for training, learning new skills and perfecting old ones they will take home with them. The facility also boasts a 95-seat classroom - with the technology to beam in surgeries from anywhere in the world.

Thursday's session involved testing new instruments used in knee and hip surgeries, but surgeries of all kinds are performed in the 50-seat amphitheater.

Sometimes the room is booked seven days a week. Part of the reason for the heavy demand may be that MERIN makes no secret that a training session in Southern Nevada can be more fun than at many other locations. The facility liberally advertises that it is "less than 10 minutes from the famed Las Vegas Strip."

The only reason for turning down classes: lack of cadavers.

Las Vegas orthopedic surgeon Michael Crovetti founded MERIN after studying bioskills facilities from Phoenix to Florida. He aimed to put the Las Vegas Valley on the international surgical map.

And he has.

"This is a great facility," Gilbert Crane, an orthopedic surgeon from Burley, Idaho, said, before returning to the knee replacement procedure.

The bodies hidden below sheets typically are used for multiple training operations, ranging from orthopedic procedures and spinal work to gastrointestinal and cardiac work.

"The only difference is the tension of the tissues," Crovetti said. "All of the anatomy, the way the joints move and the bone is very real."

Another important and obvious difference is that the doctors can't do any real damage if they make a mistake.

The institute gets 10 to 15 donations or pledges per week. Many come from people with plenty of life left to live, while others come from families of the deceased. So far officials have relied mainly on word of mouth and the Web site merinv.org.

Las Vegas resident Joe Napolitani made the difficult decision to donate his stepfather's body last week. Jere Mileusnich, 62, had succumbed to bladder cancer.

"He always wanted to help people," Napolitani said. "He would spend his last dime helping people Even in death he wanted to help people."

Napolitani fondly recalls long conversations with his stepfather, a longtime blackjack dealer who last worked at the Orleans. But he didn't have plans for a big funeral and had few family members, so Napolitani did what felt right.

Many others have done the same.

Donors can donate organs, then give the rest of their body to MERIN.

Officials stress that the bodies are always treated with respect by the staff and surgeons.

"Everybody, we try to treat like family," said lab manager Troy Farrell.

When MERIN representatives picked up Mileusnich's body from a funeral home, they profusely thanked his stepson for his donation.

"If he would have heard that," Napolitani said, "he would have said, 'Don't thank me, it's my pleasure.' "