Who wants to be a future cadaver?

[Simonster]

I am so thankful for the education my cadaver's given me, I am DEFINITELY giving my bod to medical students. After it's dead.

But my anatomy lab partners have definitely decided against it. Who thinks you'll care about your body once you're dead? Who thinks you won't?

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[QofQuimica]

Ha ha, funny you should bring this up. My mom and I had a huge fight about this issue over Thanksgiving. I wanted to do it, and she is dead set against it, so we compromised that I would donate my organs if any were salvageable, but not my body. She was worried that some med student would not treat the body respectfully. That is all my dad's fault for telling her stories from when he was in med school a millennium ago.

 

[unoriginal]

I am so thankful for the education my cadaver's given me, I am DEFINITELY giving my bod to medical students. After it's dead.

But my anatomy lab partners have definitely decided against it. Who thinks you'll care about your body once you're dead? Who thinks you won't?

i'm thankful for my cadaver... but something about this... i don't think i could.

 

[Simonster]

I wonder if the people that are uncomfortable with the idea believe that their 'soul' (or whatever you want to call it if you believe it's there), has a physical tie? I guess that's what I'm really asking.
I believe that I have a soul of sorts, but I don't think it's tied with my aorta or something. Because, you know, people lose limbs, parts of their brain, etc...and they would have complete souls, no?

 

[ExtraAverage]

I am so thankful for the education my cadaver's given me, I am DEFINITELY giving my bod to medical students. After it's dead.

But my anatomy lab partners have definitely decided against it. Who thinks you'll care about your body once you're dead? Who thinks you won't?

You should check out the book "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach if you haven't already. It's an interesting and surprisingly funny book with some compelling stories about "life after death."

 

[Simonster]

You should check out the book "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach if you haven't already. It's an interesting and surprisingly funny book with some compelling stories about "life after death."

Thanks! I never heard of that. I will definitely check it out.

 

[Telemachus]

She was worried that some med student would not treat the body respectfully. That is all my dad's fault for telling her stories from when he was in med school a millennium ago.

I found that I ended up feeling that there was something inherently, unescapably disrespectful about what happens to cadavers in an anatomy course.

 

[Simonster]

I found that I ended up feeling that there was something inherently, unescapably disrespectful about what happens to cadavers in an anatomy course.

I think that depends on the student. Even though my partners and I might joke, or get frustrated, or whatever, I know that I would be a much lesser doctor if I didn't do this. Would you take your car to a mechanic that's never looked under the hood?
So I have much respect for the woman who is now 'my cadaver', because she helps me really understand the picture perfect diagrams in my textbook, and it was truly giving for her to let me do this. I know her name and how she died, her anomalies... I imagine what her life might've been like. And she will always be THE reference in my mind.

 

[Flopotomist]

I found that I ended up feeling that there was something inherently, unescapably disrespectful about what happens to cadavers in an anatomy course.

Hey, as far as I am concerned, if I can get people to laugh while DEAD, what kind of an awesome gift is that! I say dissect me, make jokes with the parts of me you cut off, have fun, and LEARN something!

I am not some mythical entity that is to be revered in life, so why should I be in death? I get more disrespected on SDN than the cadavers do in lab.

 

[Telemachus]

I think that depends on the student. Even though my partners and I might joke, or get frustrated, or whatever, I know that I would be a much lesser doctor if I didn't do this. Would you take your car to a mechanic that's never looked under the hood?
So I have much respect for the woman who is now 'my cadaver', because she helps me really understand the picture perfect diagrams in my textbook, and it was truly giving for her to let me do this. I know her name and how she died, her anomalies... I imagine what her life might've been like. And she will always be THE reference in my mind.

I'm not saying that there isn't a great benefit from it, that the upside doesn't dwarf the downside, or that it shouldn't be a part of medical education.

What I'm saying is that no matter how you do it, there is something fundamentally f-ed up about slowly mutilating a corpse over a period of months. On the most big-picture, most simplified, most boiled-down level, without all the qualifiers about why you are doing it or whether or not the person or their family wanted it to be done, it is a messed up thing to be doing -- and most Joe Schmoes who walked in off the street and into an anatomy lab near the end of the course would have their eyes pop out of their head.

 

[synapse lapse]

Haha I don't think its strange or f-ed up at all, its what they wanted, we learn a ton, and since I don't buy into a soul I see nothing strange about it so long as they agreed. Anyhow, I'm not giving my body to science because I am going to be cryogenically frozen

 

[Flopotomist]

I'm not saying that there isn't a great benefit from it, that the upside doesn't dwarf the downside, or that it shouldn't be a part of medical education.

What I'm saying is that no matter how you do it, there is something fundamentally f-ed up about slowly mutilating a corpse over a period of months. On the most big-picture, most simplified, most boiled-down level, without all the qualifiers about why you are doing it or whether or not the person or their family wanted it to be done, it is a messed up thing to be doing -- and most Joe Schmoes who walked in off the street and into an anatomy lab near the end of the course would have their eyes pop out of their head.

I suppose this is just a personal decision. I personally think that after I die, my corpse is about as representative of who I am as the hair left under the chair at the barbershop. Do with the hair, or my corpse as you want. I don't think you could disrespect or mutilate my corpse any more than you could disrespect the hair under the chair.

I will never forget all of the things that I learned from the cadaver that I had in anatomy lab, and would be happy to be useful in death. Maybe I should get a tattoo across my back once diagnosed with a terminal illness that says "have fun cutting me up, sorry I smell like formaldehyde"

 

[wolferman]

Before I got into medical school I told my mom that if I should die, I wanted my body to be donated to a medical school as a cadaver. That way, even though I was dead, I'd get to go to medical school in some capacity. Now that I'm in, I've given her new instructions to donate my organs. That way, even if I die before I'm a physician, I'll still get to heal people posthumously with my organs. Clever huh?

 

[MadameLULU]

One of our anatomy TAs swears she's going to donate her body. She's been TAing for 7 years and LOVES. After seeing how people quarter and disrespect the body (tulane kids putting tampons in cadever's anus), I've decided that I'm not donating.

 

[HessExpress]

Can't consider it if I'm to be an alcor cyronics member.

 

[EvoDevo]

Ha ha, funny you should bring this up. My mom and I had a huge fight about this issue over Thanksgiving. I wanted to do it, and she is dead set against it.....

*groan*

 

[Tiki]

What I'm saying is that no matter how you do it, there is something fundamentally f-ed up about slowly mutilating a corpse over a period of months. On the most big-picture, most simplified, most boiled-down level, without all the qualifiers about why you are doing it or whether or not the person or their family wanted it to be done, it is a messed up thing to be doing -- and most Joe Schmoes who walked in off the street and into an anatomy lab near the end of the course would have their eyes pop out of their head.

I agree. I think I would have been more likely to donate my body before anatomy. Now that I've seen what we've done, there is no way in hell.

Oh, and I don't believe in souls.

 

[OwnageMobile]

I kinda feel obligated to donate after cutting into those who so generously provided their bodies for us-- granted not every cadever knew it was going to be used for science. I'll see how I feel on this one when I am dying, which will probably depend on how much cool **** I have pulled off. As of right now, I could care less if they stuck a tampon up my anus or split my head sagittal style. C'mon, you're dead.

 

[Hoya11]

I wonder if the people that are uncomfortable with the idea believe that their 'soul' (or whatever you want to call it if you believe it's there), has a physical tie? I guess that's what I'm really asking.
I believe that I have a soul of sorts, but I don't think it's tied with my aorta or something. Because, you know, people lose limbs, parts of their brain, etc...and they would have complete souls, no?

THe cadaver is just meat, the soul is gone ( I think its in the mesolimbic system of the brain, if you have ever read about or tried "dissociative" psycho active drugs this is apparent) BUt still, I wouldnt donate my meat for others to cut up because the whole process is 90% useless and 100% disgusting.

 

[Simonster]

"have fun cutting me up, sorry I smell like formaldehyde"

I'm adding that to my list of things I get to do when I'm a crazy old grannie

 

[QofQuimica]

*groan*

I wish I could say that I had done that on purpose, but alas, it was subconscious.

 

[humuhumu]

I am so thankful for the education my cadaver's given me, I am DEFINITELY giving my bod to medical students. After it's dead.

But my anatomy lab partners have definitely decided against it. Who thinks you'll care about your body once you're dead? Who thinks you won't?

I'd be happy to do it, but only with my wife's approval. Once I'm dead, I'm not going to care what happens to my body (assuming "I" still exist in any meaningful sense), but my wife might.

 

[VFTW]

One of our anatomy TAs swears she's going to donate her body. She's been TAing for 7 years and LOVES. After seeing how people quarter and disrespect the body (tulane kids putting tampons in cadever's anus), I've decided that I'm not donating.

That's pretty ****ed up that after everything Baylor has done for those kids, they would pretty much make it clear that they don't show the same respect for others, by acting like total shmucks with the cadavers.

 

[synapse lapse]

Can't consider it if I'm to be an alcor cyronics member.

Really? Welcome to the club, perhaps we will share a tank

 

[ms1finally]

One of our anatomy TAs swears she's going to donate her body. She's been TAing for 7 years and LOVES. After seeing how people quarter and disrespect the body (tulane kids putting tampons in cadever's anus), I've decided that I'm not donating.

Were the Tulane kids being disrespectful or doing it because their dissector/instructor told them to? At my school we were instructed to do this, and our dissecting guide may have even said to, I can't recall.

 

[Flopotomist]

One of our anatomy TAs swears she's going to donate her body. She's been TAing for 7 years and LOVES. After seeing how people quarter and disrespect the body (tulane kids putting tampons in cadever's anus), I've decided that I'm not donating.

Inserting the tampons into the backside isn't being disrespectful. It is actually being respectful in a way because it prevents the cadaver from "leaking" any substances.

 

[unoriginal]

I wonder if the people that are uncomfortable with the idea believe that their 'soul' (or whatever you want to call it if you believe it's there), has a physical tie? I guess that's what I'm really asking.
I believe that I have a soul of sorts, but I don't think it's tied with my aorta or something. Because, you know, people lose limbs, parts of their brain, etc...and they would have complete souls, no?

regardless of the existance of a soul- i believe that there is something else that makes us human besides the body or anything that it contains that disappears with the onset of death. this is not why i am uneasy. my body has sentimental value to not only myself, but also to my loved ones. i would rather bury my body and feed to it to worms than have it mutilated/disrespected by first year medical students. i am very thankful for my cadaver and i did my best (and hopefully) did not disrespect her. But, I know that this was not always true with every cadaver.

 

[judgehopkins]

You need to be careful about which school you apply to. some schools use a prosection design to there labs. At michigan state the cadavers are dissected and left in the lab for three years.

Having been working in a lab for the last 5 months and having seen the butcher job that we do to these bodies I do not want to be cut up and left to stew in a puddle of my own fluids for three years.

 

[katrinadams9]

I would rather donate my organs because I think that will save more lives in the long run.... Don't want any of my parts to go to waste!

 

[Flopotomist]

I would rather donate my organs because I think that will save more lives in the long run.... Don't want any of my parts to go to waste!

If I am lucky enough to die when I am very old, my organs won't be any use to somebody else, so dissect me.

I could understand not wanting to donate if the family holds a sentimental attachment to the corpse, and doesn't want it "butchered," but my family agrees with me that the dead body is "me" about as much as the fingernail clippings I toss in the trash.

 

[Tryin2makeit1]

I suppose this is just a personal decision. I personally think that after I die, my corpse is about as representative of who I am as the hair left under the chair at the barbershop. Do with the hair, or my corpse as you want. I don't think you could disrespect or mutilate my corpse any more than you could disrespect the hair under the chair.

I will never forget all of the things that I learned from the cadaver that I had in anatomy lab, and would be happy to be useful in death. Maybe I should get a tattoo across my back once diagnosed with a terminal illness that says "have fun cutting me up, sorry I smell like formaldehyde"

This is the wierdest topic. I think the whole idea is disgusting.

 

[synapse lapse]

I suppose this is just a personal decision. I personally think that after I die, my corpse is about as representative of who I am as the hair left under the chair at the barbershop. Do with the hair, or my corpse as you want. I don't think you could disrespect or mutilate my corpse any more than you could disrespect the hair under the chair.

I will never forget all of the things that I learned from the cadaver that I had in anatomy lab, and would be happy to be useful in death. Maybe I should get a tattoo across my back once diagnosed with a terminal illness that says "have fun cutting me up, sorry I smell like formaldehyde"

I'm with you, feel exactly the same way. I always joke with my tank mates about how if I donated my body I would get stuff placed in me for them to find, like maybe clues to a puzzle or something That'd be great. But yeah, as I said, I will be frozen so...

 

[Simonster]

Haha! It warms my (living) heart to think of med students freaking out and making stupid jokes while dissecting me. But I rarely take myself very seriously anyway...

Humor is a great way to deal with an uncomfortable situation - and going elbow deep into death for the first time is pretty fkn uncomfortable. Maybe it's not 'disrespect' we are witnessing, but just people's way of trying to hold themselves together while doing a grueling, necessary task.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

This is the wierdest topic. I think the whole idea is disgusting.

Disgusting, huh? What forum is this again?

 

[Pharos]

For me, it's organ donation first. If not, then slice 'em and dice 'em here I come...

 

[Callogician]

I'm a first year medical student, and before one of our anatomy practicals, the second year students were holding a review. One second year student stood at a cadaver and pointed to different structures, asking students to name them round robin style. As she was asking questions, she was grasping the cadaver's penis and pointing it at people to call on them.

In my opinion, this action was in good taste. In fact, it was hilarious.

Only living conscious beings should be treated with respect. The very concept of respect is absurd when it is obscured from the emotions of a conscious being. Indeed, disrespect is intuitively associated with offense and other negative emotional reactions.

As for the issue of a soul, I challenge any of you to provide good evidence against philosophical monism.

As for my cadaver: Harvest it for organs, chop it up for fun/education, laugh at its irregularities, cook and eat it, ass-rape it, skull **** it, film it in bukake porn...do whatever you'd like. Just get some good use out of it.

 

[Flopotomist]

I'm a first year medical student, and before one of our anatomy practicals, the second year students were holding a review. One second year student stood at a cadaver and pointed to different structures, asking students to name them round robin style. As she was asking questions, she was grasping the cadaver's penis and pointing it at people to call on them.

In my opinion, this action was in good taste. In fact, it was hilarious.

Only living conscious beings should be treated with respect. The very concept of respect is absurd when it is obscured from the emotions of a conscious being. Indeed, disrespect is intuitively associated with offense and other negative emotional reactions.

As for the issue of a soul, I challenge any of you to provide good evidence against philosophical monism.

As for my cadaver: Harvest it for organs, chop it up for fun/education, laugh at its irregularities, cook and eat it, ass-rape it, skull **** it, film it in bukake porn...do whatever you'd like. Just get some good use out of it.

I totally agree.. I mean, if I can get a good ole HJ by some hot second year while I am dead.. I mean, ya can't beat that!

 

[Simonster]

As for my cadaver: Harvest it for organs, chop it up for fun/education, laugh at its irregularities, cook and eat it, ass-rape it, skull **** it, film it in bukake porn...do whatever you'd like. Just get some good use out of it.

Hello, creepy boy. Are you trying to be Ironic? I can't tell. Either way, too bad I can't SELECT who I'd give my body to. Because if I had a choice: you, and just you, would not go near it. Not that I'd care about all the above nasty stuff you suggest, (three of which involve sex...hmmm). But I'd like to keep as many social gorillas out of the medical profession as possible. God forbid I was reincarnated and you, crazy creepo, became my new doc

 

[unoriginal]

Hello, creepy boy. Are you trying to be Ironic? I can't tell. Either way, too bad I can't SELECT who I'd give my body to. Because if I had a choice: you, and just you, would not go near it. Not that I'd care about all the above nasty stuff you suggest, (three of which involve sex...hmmm). But I'd like to keep as many social gorillas out of the medical profession as possible. God forbid I was reincarnated and you, crazy creepo, became my new doc

hahaha... i totally agree!

 

[synapse lapse]

Harvest it for organs, chop it up for fun/education, laugh at its irregularities, cook and eat it, ass-rape it, skull **** it, film it in bukake porn...do whatever you'd like. Just get some good use out of it.

classic

 

[rpkall]

Back to the original topic:

I'm trying to get my med school buddies to make a pact with me. Like one of those nerdy pacts you make when you're 10, and you promise to bury a time capsule or come back to your crappy little town and hang out one more time in 20 years.

Except this one will be to donate all our bodies, have them wait until we're all dead, and then unveil us all in a row for the following semester's Gross Anatomy class.

I don't get what's so bad about the plan of donating your body. In our program, they put you together and cremate you. So you'll be whole again anyway, except for whatever got picked out from between your facial nerve branches and flicked on the floor.

 

[Flopotomist]

Hello, creepy boy. Are you trying to be Ironic? I can't tell. Either way, too bad I can't SELECT who I'd give my body to. Because if I had a choice: you, and just you, would not go near it. Not that I'd care about all the above nasty stuff you suggest, (three of which involve sex...hmmm). But I'd like to keep as many social gorillas out of the medical profession as possible. God forbid I was reincarnated and you, crazy creepo, became my new doc

Hmm - he sounds just like the kinda guy I want playing with my dead body - I mean, learning should be fun, right?

 

[Simonster]

Hmm - he sounds just like the kinda guy I want playing with my dead body - I mean, learning should be fun, right?

Hm. perhaps I was too harsh. I guess I was really revolted at the idea of letting him near my LIVE body, not my corpse. I shouldn't let my emotions get so muddled.

Well, now I'm sure everyone's just lining up to donate their bodies, knowing that freaky necrophiliac SDNers are thinking about raping their nostrils, or whatever.

 

[Flopotomist]

Hm. perhaps I was too harsh. I guess I was really revolted at the idea of letting him near my LIVE body, not my corpse. I shouldn't let my emotions get so muddled.

.

Have you looked at his pic? I'd totally let him near my live body - alas, I have that pesky Y chromosome.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

You think a tampon is the worst thing that is done to a body? Oh, you should see the cavity work that's done to prepare a body for a funeral (think embalming via a big f--king needle inserted through the abdominal wall and then used to puncture all the viscera).

After working at a funeral home, an anatomy dissection doesn't seem as bad as one might think. Just FYI I'm going to donate my body. I was going to be cremated anyways.

 

[alexPDX]

I brought this topic up with my parents about a month ago and my mother really flipped. She did have a good point though. She said that it would be unbareble for her to know that "up on the hill" (OHSU) someone is cutting me apart little by little. I really had not given any thought of how my loved ones would feel about this, but I think it is an important factor to consider when making these decissions. I think I would also have a really hard time knowing that my parents or significant other are slowly disected by medical students.

 

[MadameLULU]

Were the Tulane kids being disrespectful or doing it because their dissector/instructor told them to? At my school we were instructed to do this, and our dissecting guide may have even said to, I can't recall.

Hmm, you raise an interesting point, but I'm not sure what their profs tell them to do since we have different disssection guides. Plus, there was nothing leaking when we took it out. Even if the professors had indicated they should prevent leakage, I don't think they really had to use a tampon.

 

[ms1finally]

Hmm, you raise an interesting point, but I'm not sure what their profs tell them to do since we have different disssection guides. Plus, there was nothing leaking when we took it out. Even if the professors had indicated they should prevent leakage, I don't think they really had to use a tampon.

Why not? It's what tampons are intended for, after all - to prevent leakage from the body. I mean, what are they supposed to do - leave anatomy lab, go find some cotton balls or something else and then come back?

Like I said, at my school we were told to use tampons (and they were provided for us in lab).

You shouldn't be criticizing the Tulane students for this - they were probably told to do it, and we all know that part of being a med students is being a good little do-be. And it's NOT disrespectful. Get off your high horse.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

Reading the title, it seems like we're being asked if this is our future career ambition. If you don't make it to med school, would you settle for being a cadaver as the next best option?

 

[QofQuimica]

Reading the title, it seems like we're being asked if this is our future career ambition. If you don't make it to med school, would you settle for being a cadaver as the next best option?

Well, it's really not a mutually exclusive choice, is it???