Autopsy programme - so unneccessary........

[wayneta]

Sorry I don't know the real title of this programme but it was on late last night and I caught most of it and found it deeply disturbing and totally unnecessary. What does every one else think?

[kittyletteItBe]

I watched the first 10 monutes (I didn't want to DP did) and then went upstairs.

Its like you said I think it was unnessicary. I mean I can understand the original autopsy ones, we all die and many have autopsies and people may want to know what happens after.

But to use those deceased people as accesories to morbid entertainment like that just seemed really bad taste.

And the guy in the hat freaks me out!

[snooks]

Didn't watch it last night so can't comment on that but I watched most of a previous series - on about 3 years ago - late at night sitting bf ds1! I found it truly fascinating (I'm not at all sqeamish) although dh thought it was "weird"...and wouldn't watch it if you paid him.

Why did you carry on watching if you didn't like it

[sugarfree]

There is an 'off' button,you know!

[PeachyCosmicExplosion]

Have seen similar in past, to be entirely honest I don't have an issue with these programmes. The person whose body is used doantes and agrees whilst still alive IIRC, and there is choice over what you watch. I think there is far too much fear and squeamishness over death in our society,a nd the way bodies are viewed etc in other cultures is far more- well, normal and healthy, to my mind anyway. When the cat (OK admittedly a cat but small kids etc) died the boys all sat aorund and held him etc afterwards and I would encourage them to view a body of a loved one God forbid it should happen- its just part of lifes natural process.

[paulaplumpbottom]

I saw a program like this a year or so back and found it very informative. Death is the last taboo of course. I think watching an autopsie brings it home to people that one day that will be them on the slab. I don't think people feels as much squeamish as scared.

[madamez]

WHy watch it if you don't like it? And why should your squeamishness stop other people from watching what they want to? Is not as if they showed the autopsies on Cbeebies, after all (though there are undoubtedly several people's DCs who would have been thrilled to bits if they had )

[paulaplumpbottom]

My dd who is 4 has a flair for the morbid and would love to watch something like that. I might let her as long as her Dad and I were there with her. The human body is fascinating

[expatinscotland]

i just find that doctor incredibly creepy.

[wayneta]

I'm not squeamish I have been to a real life autopsy as part of my job (not that I advocate this - I went out of morbid curiosity and was deeply disturbed by what I saw).
I just don't see the point of sawing in half frozen bodies to show anatomy that could be shown in other ways. I find it disturbing and fear that there are people out there who are very weird and this sort of thing could actually set off their disturbing fantasies and actually have quite a sinister effect.
I have no problem with an autopsy being shown on TV but this is different and not of any real benefit to anyone.
Dr.s are not trained liked this although admittedly at med school they do disect bodies to learn anatomy but not in this way - frozen with saws resembling equipment from a joinery yard.
The emergency medicine they were trying to teach last night is taught on the Advanced Trauma and Life Support Course by the Royal College of Surgeons and there is not a dead body in sight - although years ago they did apparently use dead animals (i think this was in America) but there was no increased benefit and they were soon replaced by anatomical dummies. If this is good enough for Dr.s and nurses who use these skills front line then I think it is totally inappropriate for these lessons to be taught in this way on TV.

[PeachyCosmicExplosion]

Also have been to an autopsy, have to say it didnt bother me at the least
(was a Nurse for a while, optional for students).

Presumably the frozen cross ection was to show a cros section of the body with oragns in situ? Given that with a non frozen cut the organs would have become dislodged, and the only other option would have been a mock up which is hardly the idea of the programme, it seems rather a good solution to me!

perhaps not a good idea for you to watch this again? maybe get in a DVD?

[wayneta]

How can you say an autopsy didn't bother you in the least
Were you not mortified that they cut from the tongue downwards and everything is put in bags at the end and stuffed in the chest cavity like old giblits. I thought it was very disrespectful and complete butchery. They disect everything even the testicles (the body I saw had died of either a head injury or heart attack - they new this it was not suspicious) yet the whole protocol was followed and there was no dignity.
The thing that upset me the most was that when your buried/cremated you don't have you tongue in your mouth -it's in your chest.
I don't know anyone else who has witnessed one including doctors, nurses, and members of the police force who have not been at least a little bothered by the experience.

[hazygirl]

i recently met in court the pathologist who did the post mortem on my grandson ,she came over hugged me and cried , she apologised and said he was so beutiful she cried, sorry i couldnt give you answers she said. its not just a job to some ,she was bloody human. i just want to say its something that has to be done and its so awful i cant even think about it,sorry its not nice and im here crying cos i didnt want that .sorry no

[kittyletteItBe]

Hazy, Im so sorry, Your post made me fill up.

She must be a lovely lady, Im so sorry about your grandson

[NoNameToday]

Isn't ascertaining the cause of death the reason for a post mortem ?

That can only be done by totally excluding any other cause.

In some, admittedly rare circumstances people have been murdered and there are attempts to diguise the initial cause of death.

[AitchTwoOh]

hazygirl, i'm so sorry about your grandson.

i've only seen one of the autopsy shows and i learned a lot about first aid from it, oddly enough. it's interesting, i think, and each person has agreed in advance to give their bodies to be used by Gunther von hagens in his demos so no ethical issues.

[Marne]

I did'nt see it last night but i find this kind of thing fascinating and not at all creepy.

I dont see that it is disrespectful to the deceased as they have given concent to give their body to sience.

[NoNameToday]

hazygirl I understand how you feel. Sudden death is a terrible thing to happen, in your situation it was compounded by the the loss of such a young baby.

Yes, the family know that they were in no way responsible, but that has to be proven for the law, also the family themselves seek an answer for the tragedy.

Sadly sometimes there is no definitive cause, that makes it so much harder to bear.

[expatinscotland]

then why did they need a naked, live female model with her Brazilian complete with landing strip on show, if it was supposed to be an autopsy on a dead person?

[paulaplumpbottom]

So sorry about your grandson

[tissy]

wayneta, I've seen many post mortem examinations (as we call them in the UK ), and I wasn't disturbed either. Why do you expect that everyone else's reactions would be just the same as yours?

I'm surprised that you found it disturbing, and yet you "caught most of it"- why on earth didn't you turn it off?

I didn't watch the programme, so can't comment on whether it was supposed to be educational or entertainment, but don't have a problem if it was supposed to inform.

[TinyGang]

Was this a repeat? I'm sure I saw this a year or so ago late one night. I couldn't stop watching even though it was so unbelievably grim.

That man in the hat is the oddest creepy chap isn't he? I bet he's a wow at parties

[paulaplumpbottom]

I don't mean to sound crude but does it matter if your tounge ends up in your stomach cavity? Are you going to use it again?

[tissy]

quite

[tissy]

and, I would add, all the pathologists I have met are VERY respectful of the body.

[BandofMothers]

The body is just a shell after you die, so what does it matter?
My mum'd dp died nearly a year ago and he wanted to be given to science but he wasn't found for at least 32 hrs so they couldn't use him. I saw him in the coffin and you could see the bruising all over his head (he fell down the stairs) but he looked ok. They did a PM on him to see what had killed him, they thought at first he had broken his neck but it turns out it was a huge brain bleed. It was important for us all to know what had killed him and if he had suffered lying there undiscovered, but they think he must have died pretty much straight away and it brought some peace of mind to know he didn';t bleed slowly to death.
Sorry, the anniversary is on sunday and it is a bit raw, but I am thankful to the person who had the gruesome job of doing his PM, for giving us some peace of mind, and for the person who laid him out so nicely, which was a man whom he went to school with and so must have found it very hard. Someone has to do it and I think we should be glad. If you don't like it don't watch. I usedto watch the other autopsy shows from the US where they used the bodies to discover the murderers, speaking from the grave etc, and I find them morbidly fascinating tho I couldn't really say why.