Warning: Possibly gruesome post ahead!
Finally saw my 1st autopsy today! It was strangely dissociative watching them remove the skull cap, brain, organs etc. I felt squeamish when I looked at the body. It was different from the cadaver lab. This person only died yesterday. This person still had hair. This person had a case history file. This person had a family. This person had a name. This person was a person before.
Not sure how much I'm allowed to share here but there wasn't much to be seen apart from slightly scarred kidney, signs of acute pancreatitis (saponification), fatty streaks in aorta. Cause of death ?OD. So they'll have to wait for toxicology to come back in a few weeks. And blood is drawn from the femoral artery post-mortem! This is because substances like caffeine (?!) can be released from the heart into the blood if taken from there.
It was weird seeing them slice up the organs, take samples, dump everything into a black plastic bag in the abdomen and sew it all up again. All of a sudden, the body looks presentable once more. What was an empty (literally) carcass was full again.
Just for your info, they remove the brain as one part, including the brainstem and cerebellum. Then they remove the abdominal organs from the tongue down to the ovaries/prostate. HMM just realised something. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE INTESTINES?! Didn't see it being chopped up! Didn't realise the bladder was SOOOO BIG and expandable!! It's like a giant plastic bag! Almost!
It's different looking at fresh organs as compared to preserved stuff in the cadaver lab. Everything' still squishy and soft and liquid. The person was foaming at the mouth which was a sign of pulmonary oedema. And we got to see the aspiration pneumonia in the lungs because the contents were the same as that in the stomach.
It was exciting! Wouldn't mind seeing more if I can. =)
