Background: Cadaveric dissection remains a cornerstone of preclinical medical education, providing not only anatomical knowledge but also a formative environment for bioethical reasoning and professional identity formation. However, the ethical foundations underpinning cadaver use — informed consent, donor dignity, non-maleficence, and justice in body procurement — are unevenly understood and inconsistently taught across medical curricula worldwide. 

Objective: This narrative review synthesizes contemporary literature on the bioethical dimensions of cadaveric anatomical education and examines how professionalism is cultivated, challenged, and assessed among medical students in the dissection laboratory. 

Methods: A narrative synthesis was conducted using peer-reviewed articles, task-force reports, and institutional guidelines indexed in Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar, published predominantly between 2015 and 2026, supplemented by foundational bioethics literature. Thematic analysis focused on four domains: historical-ethical evolution of body procurement, the four-principle bioethical framework as applied to donor use, pedagogical strategies for professionalism development, and religious/cultural perspectives, with particular attention to Islamic bioethical discourse relevant to Muslim-majority educational contexts. 

Results: The reviewed literature demonstrates a clear historical trajectory from coercive and non-consensual body procurement toward donor-based, consent-driven anatomical gift programs, though unclaimed-body practices persist in several low- and middle-income countries. Structured interventions — including cadaveric oaths, memorial ceremonies, donor narratives, and reflective writing — are consistently associated with improved empathy, gratitude, and professional identity formation. Digital and virtual alternatives complement but do not fully replicate the affective and ethical learning generated by direct cadaveric engagement. Lapses in professionalism, particularly social-media-related misconduct, remain a persistent concern requiring explicit institutional policy. 

Conclusion: Bioethical professionalism in anatomical education is best cultivated through an integrated curriculum that couples technical dissection skills with explicit ethics instruction, ritualized respect practices, and culturally and religiously congruent donor engagement frameworks. Institutions, particularly in pluralistic and Muslim-majority settings such as Indonesia, should formalize bioethics instruction as a core competency parallel to anatomical knowledge.