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What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

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Re: What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

#91

Post by spookthesunset »

danielheath wrote: post #3
zac_hudson wrote: post #2

Firstly, its surprising that this school allows what would apparently be the lay public gain access to human anatomical gifts. In Canada, this is restricted to persons with a legitimate interest, ie med students and grad students in bioengineering/bio-adjacent fields. I think that the author is not an individual with such an interest was quite clear from the tone taken on this piece - most discussions involving cadav…

> most discussions involving cadavers are quite respectful of the fact that they are working on the mortal remains of a person Not that I know first-hand, but that's not the impression I got from the med students when I was at uni. People find all sorts of odd ways to cope with their own mortality, and getting reminded of it tends to bring those to the fore.

If you want to listen to the dark/shady side of the body broker business check out this swindled podcast. These dudes were chopping up bodies and storing parts in buckets, warm coolers, you name it.

It’s quite a listen!

https://swindledpodcast.com/podcast/84-the-body-broker/

Re: What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

#92

Post by taskforcegemini »

rolisz wrote: post #72
cloverich wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Random side note but feinting at the sight of blood isn't necessarily a squeamish thing. I remember when we were learning to place IV's and the med student a row over from me warned he would feint. The nurses teaching us tried to re-assure him but he interrupted -- "Oh I'm not squeamish or scared or anything, its just a reaction to blood specifically". (TY for sharing your story btw, thought the aside was interesting…

Any advice on how to get over that reaction to blood?

maybe watching the show "dexter" can help? I am weak to some blood stuff, I fainted once just talking about it. However, donating blood or watching dexter was ok.

Re: What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

#93

Post by mzs »

jstanley wrote: post #7
zac_hudson wrote: post #2

Firstly, its surprising that this school allows what would apparently be the lay public gain access to human anatomical gifts. In Canada, this is restricted to persons with a legitimate interest, ie med students and grad students in bioengineering/bio-adjacent fields. I think that the author is not an individual with such an interest was quite clear from the tone taken on this piece - most discussions involving cadav…

In what way is the OP's interest in dissecting cadavers not "legitimate"?

"I’ve even taken a date there, and she enjoyed it!"

Re: What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

#94

Post by argentinian »

rolisz wrote: post #72
cloverich wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Random side note but feinting at the sight of blood isn't necessarily a squeamish thing. I remember when we were learning to place IV's and the med student a row over from me warned he would feint. The nurses teaching us tried to re-assure him but he interrupted -- "Oh I'm not squeamish or scared or anything, its just a reaction to blood specifically". (TY for sharing your story btw, thought the aside was interesting…

Any advice on how to get over that reaction to blood?

Contract some muscle, for example close and contract your hand. That would cause the blood to flow there and increase blood pressure preventing fainting.

Blood phobia psychological treatments developed by behaviourists give that indication to patients during the exposure to blood and blood related experiences during the treatment. The name of the therapy is exposure therapy and it's the one with more evidence supporting it for treating phobias. Yes, its about "facing your fears" but it's done in a gradual way. https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/patients-and-families/exp... Therapists found ways to prevent the fainting during the blood-phobia treatment, allowing the graded exposure occur.

Re: What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

#95

Post by jstanley »

mzs wrote: post #93
jstanley wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what way is the OP's interest in dissecting cadavers not "legitimate"?

"I’ve even taken a date there, and she enjoyed it!"

So is the illegitimate part the fact that they brought a date, or the fact that she enjoyed it?

If you brought a date to a makerspace, would that make your interest in the makerspace illegitimate? Only if she enjoys it?

Re: What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

#96

Post by Sporktacular »

zac_hudson wrote: post #2

Firstly, its surprising that this school allows what would apparently be the lay public gain access to human anatomical gifts. In Canada, this is restricted to persons with a legitimate interest, ie med students and grad students in bioengineering/bio-adjacent fields. I think that the author is not an individual with such an interest was quite clear from the tone taken on this piece - most discussions involving cadav…

Exactly. I always understood you could allow your remains to be used for organ donation or for science. Not for some entertainment before Friday drinks. May be no worse than the way some med students treat donated bodies, but that doesn't make it any better.

Re: What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

#97

Post by Lornedon »

sergiotapia wrote: post #38

I've been in medical schools where there were corpses and students all over the large hall. My first thought was wow each of these people had dreams, personalities and a soul. They were somebody. It gave me some comfort that the students were taught to respect the bodies and treat them with dignity. I wonder if that's all medical school or only this one because it was catholic. It seems OP doesn't care about this? An…

> It seems OP doesn't care about this?

Where in the post did you see a lack of dignity? To me, it didn't seem disrespectful.

Re: What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

#98

Post by syntaxing »

at_a_remove wrote: post #64

This wasn't full on dissection but ... my father was dating a coroner, who really wanted me to go to med school. However, my father was also ridiculously squeamish, to the point where even a few drops of blood could result in a faint. So, she decided to take me to an autopsy she had to sign off on, to see if I was also as delicate. My father refused to even enter the building, but there I am, with my first cadaver, w…

Did you end up going to med school?!

Re: What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

#99

Post by notshift »

kendallpark wrote: post #83
Buttons840 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Holding a donors brain in one's hand (it's smaller than one would expect). In the words of a lab partner, "I can't believe we are holding everything that made this person a person, all their personality, everything." Thought provoking. I'll keep this in mind while holding a hundred billion apples during lunch. ;) From another angle, I would argue that the eyes and face are part of what makes a human, as are the han…

> From another angle, I would argue that the eyes and face are part of what makes a human, as are the hands. I also agree with this take, though in the moment at the lab I didn't interject with a critique of mind-body dualism. Either way, it seems the brain has some sort of primacy over other organs, in terms of contributing to personhood. Pretty much everything else could be lost or transplanted, yet we'd still cons…

A large amount of computation takes place in the gut, largely by the foreign bacteria that make up our gut flora, and the gut has direct lines of two-way communication with the brain. Hence the term "gut feeling".

The brain certainly does a lot of heavy lifting, but I think if you took a person's brain out of their human body and into a robot body instead, they'd probably have dramatic shifts in personality, behavior, thought processes, feelings, worldview, etc. It would probably be on a similar level as those experiments where people use magnetic or electric pulses on their brain or whatever and observe large personality changes.

Re: What it’s like to dissect a cadaver

#100

Post by at_a_remove »

syntaxing wrote: post #98
at_a_remove wrote: post #64

This wasn't full on dissection but ... my father was dating a coroner, who really wanted me to go to med school. However, my father was also ridiculously squeamish, to the point where even a few drops of blood could result in a faint. So, she decided to take me to an autopsy she had to sign off on, to see if I was also as delicate. My father refused to even enter the building, but there I am, with my first cadaver, w…

Did you end up going to med school?!

No. I ended up with a rare metabolic disorder that reacts very poorly with lack of sleep or even skipping meals and, as such, decided the usual hazing rituals associated with med school would be a very poor idea. Ironically, I ended up diagnosing the disorder looong before the M.D.s would consider it and had to twist their collective arms for the tests, so it isn't like I wouldn't have been a good fit in a diagnostic aspect.
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