As a former forensics science student, I started to cry at my first (and last) autopsy. I was told to wait in the examiner’s office. I could see the other students from where I sat in his office and all I remember was sadness for the young men (two college freshman buddies that died in a car accident) and anger towards the other students for looking so “intrigued” as they leaned closer to watch them get cut up. I felt sick from the small of formaldehyde. I went to a gas station as soon as I left and bought a Sprite to steady my stomach but it was like the taste of formaldehyde was in my throat. I couldn’t drink Sprite for a long, long time after that. I made the decision that I belonged in a lab working evidence and not in the crime field or examiner’s facility. I never wanted to see another body again. I ended up changing my major two years in when I found something I loved more but I still love forensics.
2 weeks ago | 22
Ive seen 2 autopsies. I was fifteen working as a candy striper and worked in the lab. The pathologist was an amazing and kind man and took my interest to heart and invited me to watch a couple. It is amazing to see our bodies anatomy up close.
2 weeks ago | 3
I got to observe one in nursing school. It’s extremely cold in the morgue and that’s what I was thinking of. It was fascinating to me.
2 weeks ago | 1
I’m old, so I remember the opening sequence of Quincy, ME. 🥴 They dropped like flies….and I knew that wasn’t going to be a good career option
2 weeks ago | 9
As a deputy sheriff I saw my first autopsy. Yes it was as gross as it gets because the face and torso were separate from the lower body and the guy looked totally alive. He was a 20 something white guy. He looked like he had been very healthy. He had longish red hair and freckles. He was killed by an officer during the commission of a crime but I don’t remember what the crime was. But at the same time it was so surreal it didn’t get to me that much.
2 weeks ago (edited) | 5
Thank you for the link love iam obsessed with Nancy grace there's no one like her
2 weeks ago | 2
I use to guard the morgue.. Vomiting #1 reaction. The worst cases were the suicides and children
2 weeks ago | 1
For me it was the smell, of formaldehyde. I worked for the Director of Burn Service at a Med School. Our Derm Tech arranged for me to observe an autopsy. Just like Quincy, but without them eating lunch during the autopsy. My friend said he picked a time when there were not any "decomposed bodies" ( super hot in Texas), and I'm grateful for that. But, the chemical smell stayed with me all the way home, and when I got in the door, I stripped and took a shower/shampoo first thing. Clothes went into the washer and dry cleaning to the garage! Fascinating, though.
2 weeks ago | 5
I have seen a few autopsies. I found them fascinating, when you see how amazing the human body is, how intricate and detailed we are. I was a criminal law student. In an autopsy, the dead tell us what happened to them.
2 weeks ago | 4
Before I started nursing i saw an autopsy. It was a very strange feeling seeing a human body cut open. Years later when I saw open heart surgery for the first time, I reacted the same way. Despite knowing the procedure, Despite nursing for years I almost passed out
2 weeks ago | 6
Your ATTITUDE ...better is getting worse....and worse getting better SOLID. YOUR ROCK....
2 weeks ago | 0
I worked for a doctor years back who said human anatomy class would make him hungry. I quit that job fast.
2 weeks ago | 6
I didn't feel sick nor faint. I felt sad and found myself curious about what happened and how their family must miss them.
2 weeks ago | 2
I'm 57 now but in high school my class visited a mausoleum, which was beautiful the rest of the tour wasn't as good. One girl and I almost passed out in the embalming room. Had to leave it quick!
2 weeks ago | 2
When I drove school bus, I took a field trip to the university for a Necropsy. I was invited to tag along...I had to leave cuz I felt faint 😂
2 weeks ago | 2
I had to dissect around the lips of a man who donated his body for science in my anatomy class. I was completely fascinated, but I felt horrible that I wasn't very good at using the scalpal. In my defense, the instructor said he was not embalmed or preserved correctly and was more dried out than should be. I guess what I'm trying to say is I was not grossed out or shocked or scared and I didn't faint but I was fascinated. But when it comes to an autopsy? I'm not sure how I'll react to someone who's just newly died, and knowing that it's in autopsy to discover cause of death. 😢
2 weeks ago (edited) | 2
Vomiting, really? I hardly believe they clean up after every visitor gets sick all over. Dont believe it. Worked on cadavers in nursing school, nothing worse after Thanksgiving break coming back to study and the body looks like a turkey after all the meat was picked from the bones.
2 weeks ago | 1
I am just not the kind of person who can visit a morgue. It sounds so scary.
2 weeks ago | 1
Nancy Grace
Welcome to the Morgue! With every tour group or visiting student, there is always the chance that someone will have trouble dealing with what they're seeing. Listen to a new episode of Mayhem in the Morgue: link.podtrac.com/ru5l1fjl
Can you guess? What is the most common reaction for first-time observers in an autopsy?
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 518