[grinch]

Quote:

Originally posted by dgs I agree that the autopsy has a fascination value to it. Listen, it is an absolutely amazing thing to see how the body works. My reaction, though, isn't based on the event, it's based on my suspicions of the guys motivations--to defile for entertainment is different than to educate. Respect for the dead is something lost on society these days, largely because, as a society, we are protected from death. We don't see it around us very much, and when we do, it's very anaseptic. This tends to lend a TV-land quality to this whole thing. Freaky, but not really "real." It's more like watching a horror flick than confronting the mortality and machinery of man. But whatever, I think the guy has a right to do it if he wants, I just think he's an a**h**le for doing so.

life has toughened my skin a bit as far as many things go, including death. i took anatomy and physiology in high school and we did cats; i always wanted to be a doctor when i was growing up, until i found out you have to be smart to do so.

i agree with what you say about respect for the dead these days. thanks for your opinions in this thread. i enjoyed them greatly.

 

[SumB]

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Originally posted by wallijonn at least it was pay per view... wonder if they made more money than the 2 minute Tyson fight?

Don't give Don King any ideas...

 

[mikeg]

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Originally posted by TimSchirmer what channel is that on again?

I'd have to do a search, but I've seen surgeries several times on a cable medical channel, when surfing cable channels after 10 or 11 at night. We have the standard plan of Comcast Cable.

 

[mikeg]

I wonder how many of you who preach respect the dead, actually practice respect for the living.

 

[dgs]

Quote:

Originally posted by mikeg I wonder how many of you who preach respect the dead, actually practice respect for the living.

Why would you suggest such a thing? Not particularly respectful of the living, is it? My patients seem to think that I treat them just fine, thank you very much.

 

[mikeg]

Quote:

Originally posted by dgs Why would you suggest such a thing? Not particularly respectful of the living, is it? My patients seem to think that I treat them just fine, thank you very much.

I'm very sorry if I offended. Didn't mean to. I just think that members of the lay public who have a authentic interest in science, medicine, human anatomy, etc., should not be denied an opportunity to satisfy their honest desire for education in these areas. Yet, I think that we are denied this opportunity by moralists who somehow think that they have a right to regulate other's rights. I know that I am rambling a bit, but I really resent harmless freedoms of some, being constrained by others. I do object to disgusting spectacles such as piecing together body parts, which is macabre. But, I don't object to a public demo of a legitimate dissection technique. I respect some (or most) not wanting to see this, but I resent constaining our freedom to see it.

 

[Chivalry]

um.. this wasnt just open to the public who happened to be passing.. lol.. although anyone could buy a ticket if they got one b4 they sold out.. but i think the main reason it was described as "public" was that as well as allowing a couple of hundred people to sit in and watch(as ppl have said this happends in any medical school anyway) but by the fact it was braodcast on national TV for anyone to watch..

 

[insanefred]

Quote:

Originally posted by mikeg I wonder how many of you who preach respect the dead, actually practice respect for the living.

Respect for the living is central to medical teaching and practice, whatever the media might suggest.

Mikeg, I agree that genuinely interested laypeople shouldn't be prevented from studying such things, I just don't believe that a human body should be defiled for a non-essential purpose. It is regrettable that human dissection is necessary at all, but the fact is that it is vital for the proper understanding of the subject by student doctors, nurses, podiatrists etc. (although some might disagree on this - some medical schools now rely on simulations and models)
Andrew

 

[Mr.PD]

How about the family of the dead guy?
I realize that consent forms were probably required, and that any of us can have our body donated to science when we are done with it. Do you suppose that this persons family got to share any of the "profits" from this spectacle?

This brings another subject to mind. How does one go about donating his/her body. Are there forms to fill out before one dies? My wife would really like to give her body to a medical school.

 

[mikeg]

I think that it's essential to have the consent of the person who died, and also the consent of the person's immediate family. But, once having such consent, doing dissection in a legitimate medical fashion, by a qualified medical person, and in a setting where autopsies are normally done, laws should not be passed that prohibit the lay public from seeing it.

 

[nebuchadnezzar]

Quote:

Please tell me that the cadaver in the photo is NOT the subject

I believe that is an actual person. I saw something on The Learning Channel or Discovery about a museum of actual cadavers displayed this way. (at a medical school in the Germany?)
Quote:

His organs will be taken back to Germany after the post-mortem to be "plastinated" to form part of the Bodyworlds exhibition

Bodyworlds
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Does an autopsy, made spectacular, made into a freak show, degrade the respect that the lay public have for medicine, for life, or for privacy?

In a word: No. I think this would be fascinating to watch (done respectfully, of course). If anything I think it would increase the level of respect one has for the inner-workings on the body. There have been numerous surgeries done on The Learning Channel, which, in my opinion is more public (basic cable in my area) than a paid exihibit. I would pay to watch an autopsy.

Actually,as a kid, I remember asking my mother (employed at a local hospitol) if she could get me in to see an autopsy.