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In 1962, a college student answers an ad: “Mortuary Assistant required”

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Re: In 1962, a college student answers an ad: “Mortuary Assistant required”

#61

Post by cmdrfred »

mathgenius wrote: post #51
niels_olson wrote: post #42

I just finished my rotation at the medical examiner's office. The "couple of pounds" of tar in the lungs was probably more mucus than anything. Also, they may well have been washing out the congestion caused by respiratory depression. But it's quite unlikely that it was "tar", though I'm sure plenty of black carbon, or "anthracotic pigment" came out too. I say this because a smoker who dies of, say, a sudden massive…

Yeah, this made me wonder, in lieu of a lung transplant, what if they just took out a smoker's lung and gave it a good wash and then stuck it back in again? It sounds like you are saying that alot of other things go wrong with such a lung, not just a buildup of tar.

With things like the davinci system I don't even think you would have to take the lung out.

Re: In 1962, a college student answers an ad: “Mortuary Assistant required”

#62

Post by chiph »

windlep wrote: post #5
InclinedPlane wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern LA is orders of magnitude safer than London in the '60s and earlier. Those conditions would have been comparable to some parts of China today.

"I can't trust air I can't see", was my favorite line of my grandfathers, who lived in LA for the past 60 years. He always mentioned how incredibly clear and clean the air is now compared to a few decades ago (where I live in Northern California now, even the Bay Area seems polluted and smoggy most days).

These days when I get behind a classic car that has a carburetor, I close the vents. Just can't stand the smell of the unburned fuel they put out. Which is odd because I grew up with them (my first car was a '75 Impala with the malaise-era small-block V-8). These days there are many more cars on the road and individually they're far cleaner than any 70's car was. So much cleaner that collectively they're cleaner than the population of cars from back then too.

Re: In 1962, a college student answers an ad: “Mortuary Assistant required”

#64

Post by beat »

11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #4

The worst job I've had was called 'putting up hay'. It amounted to climbing into the loft of a very dust-laden barn with 3 or 4 of my college buddies, catching hay bales as they spat out of the hay elevator, and running them over to stack in uniform 3-d arrays. After a couple of hours, our employer called us down for rejuvenation with Coke-a-cola and glazed donuts, and we'd blow what seemed like pounds of dusty mucou…

I got $5.35 working at a plastics factory, making house siding and PVC pipe. I still have a scar from slashing a finger open with a hacksaw while we were starting up a siding line... basically, I would cut semi-molten PVC siding that was moving about a foot a second, because it was still too warped to make it into the cooling tanks, much less the cutters. Had to keep cutting, too, despite my injury.

The factory and manufacturing work that everyone seems to miss these days is profoundly unsafe.

Re: In 1962, a college student answers an ad: “Mortuary Assistant required”

#65

Post by ramblerman »

DanBC wrote: post #58

I was a bit surprised to see this admission: > In the interests of full disclosure I should add that I was also persuaded to commit a series of small crimes during my sojourn at the hospital, and which I hope I can safely confess at this remove of half a century. I stole pituitary glands. About a hundred of them over the months. A research hospital had need of them—pituitaries produce a multitude of hormones, includi…

> Dick van Velzen did great harm

Whilst I agree he comitted a crime, his subjects were all dead anyways. I don't see the great harm myself tbh.

Re: In 1962, a college student answers an ad: “Mortuary Assistant required”

#66

Post by DanBC »

ramblerman wrote: post #65
DanBC wrote: post #58

I was a bit surprised to see this admission: > In the interests of full disclosure I should add that I was also persuaded to commit a series of small crimes during my sojourn at the hospital, and which I hope I can safely confess at this remove of half a century. I stole pituitary glands. About a hundred of them over the months. A research hospital had need of them—pituitaries produce a multitude of hormones, includi…

> Dick van Velzen did great harm Whilst I agree he comitted a crime, his subjects were all dead anyways. I don't see the great harm myself tbh.

His science was lousy; he caused many people to withdraw consent for tissue donation for scientific reasons.

His subjects were dead but those subjects had relatives and many of them expressed considerable distress. I don't particularly understand that upset by I recognise that they were not lying, they did sincerely feel a lot of upset.

Re: In 1962, a college student answers an ad: “Mortuary Assistant required”

#67

Post by saalweachter »

mathgenius wrote: post #51
niels_olson wrote: post #42

I just finished my rotation at the medical examiner's office. The "couple of pounds" of tar in the lungs was probably more mucus than anything. Also, they may well have been washing out the congestion caused by respiratory depression. But it's quite unlikely that it was "tar", though I'm sure plenty of black carbon, or "anthracotic pigment" came out too. I say this because a smoker who dies of, say, a sudden massive…

Yeah, this made me wonder, in lieu of a lung transplant, what if they just took out a smoker's lung and gave it a good wash and then stuck it back in again? It sounds like you are saying that alot of other things go wrong with such a lung, not just a buildup of tar.

At the very least, once the carcinogens have done their job and induced a cancer washing them out would be a bit of "shutting the barn door after the cows have run away".

Re: In 1962, a college student answers an ad: “Mortuary Assistant required”

#68

Post by wetmore »

malnourish wrote: post #37
jammi wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Voat.

I just visited and unfortunately the content right now doesn't seem to be all there. And, while I don't describe myself as a "social justice warrior", but a skeptic, seeing this (mostly upvoted) comment regarding the admins kind of turned me off, especially considering the replies. >These admins are super nerdy, have low self-esteem, not to popular with the ladies, are slightly autistic (on the spectrum) have little…

Voat gained a lot of its members when it was hailed as reddit without as much admin intervention. A few months ago there was a concern among some reddit users that admins were deleting posts that criticized reddit's CEO; there are also some conspiracy-theory level accusations that admins were deleting posts in line with "SJW" ideal (when I say SJW, I mean the conception of SJWs held by the people who frequently complain about them).

As a result, many of the members of voat are the types of people who seem to have a chip on their shoulder when it comes to things like being civil on the internet. They are the types of people who obsess over reddit's current CEO Ellen Pao, or who hold opinions which they defend with "free speech" in the way described by this comic[1]. Honestly, in my opinion they're just assholes.

[1]: https://xkcd.com/1357/

Re: In 1962, a college student answers an ad: “Mortuary Assistant required”

#69

Post by solarmist »

DanBC wrote: post #58

I was a bit surprised to see this admission: > In the interests of full disclosure I should add that I was also persuaded to commit a series of small crimes during my sojourn at the hospital, and which I hope I can safely confess at this remove of half a century. I stole pituitary glands. About a hundred of them over the months. A research hospital had need of them—pituitaries produce a multitude of hormones, includi…

Is this what inspired the organ donation skit in Montey Python's The Meaning of Life?

Re: In 1962, a college student answers an ad: “Mortuary Assistant required”

#70

Post by ramblerman »

DanBC wrote: post #66
ramblerman wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Dick van Velzen did great harm Whilst I agree he comitted a crime, his subjects were all dead anyways. I don't see the great harm myself tbh.

His science was lousy; he caused many people to withdraw consent for tissue donation for scientific reasons. His subjects were dead but those subjects had relatives and many of them expressed considerable distress. I don't particularly understand that upset by I recognise that they were not lying, they did sincerely feel a lot of upset.

First point is very valid and one I hadn't considered

Second is the one I was arguing against. I certainly don't doubt they did sincerely feel a lot of upset. I suppose I still think it shouldn't matter. It would in that regard have been better had they just never found out.

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