The Autopsy

[PR.]

Anyone catch this on CH4 last night?

There was a lot of controversy on whether it should go ahead.

For people who haven't heard anything about it, it was the first public autopsy in the UK for 170 years. They had a 72 year old German man who had given permission for a public autopsy to be carried out.

They then cut the guy up and explained as they went on what they were doing, cutting open the chest, removing the main body of organs, cutting open his cranium and removing his brain. At the end they determined that he had died of to higher blood pressure along with a lung infection

I found it quite facinating to see a full disection, it was amazing how big his heart was and weighed nearly 0.5kg.

Whats your opinion? Sick or Interesting?

 

[Testin da Cable]

I can't watch stuff like that.

 

[Will]

I didn't watch the autopsy, but I caught the "why he died" bit and the debate afterwards. It was quite interesting.

 

[GDW]

Didnt see it but I hear that he made numerous jokes to the audience which some people have found offensive given that this was meant to be educational rather than entertaining

 

[.Cask]

I thought it was great. First time I've seen dead body and all the organs how they really look. Especially liked it when he cut open the liver and all that green stuff ran out.

Entertaining, yes. Educational, not really. Can't say I really learnt much other than actually seeing what the innards of an old corpse looks like.

More of these in the future might be good for prospective doctors wanting to elimate any squemishness. But I think a lecture with models and diagrams would probably be more effective in teaching people the science of the procedure.

 

[PR.]

Yer when they cut open his gaul bladder and the green liquid flowed out and you could see a load of gaul stones rattling around in it, it was strange cos the bladder looked like an old polythene bag

 

[GDW]

Its lunchtime FFS uke:

 

[old.D0LLySh33p]

uke:

 

[nath]

I saw the body worlds exhibition that he did. All these "real" bodies chucked about in various amusing positions. Interesting, but questionable. Which is the point really.. questionable stuff makes for popular art. Even if popular isn't the right word to use, it certainly attracts attention.

He said he used a technique called plastination. It strikes me that this is bollocks and actually he made a load of convincing looking bodies and said they were real to spark fury and controversy, both of which make for a successful art exhibition.

 

[throdgrain]

I dont think it had much worth really. I didnt see it, it's really not my kind of thing, but wasnt the bloke dressed up in a magicians cloak and top hat?
Surely this is trivialising life and death for the sake of £12 enterance fee. I understand lots of people wanted it, but just because people want something, doesnt necessarily make it right.
I think its pretty goulish tbh. :/

 

[stu]

Originally posted by throdgrain
I dont think it had much worth really. I didnt see it, it's really not my kind of thing, but wasnt the bloke dressed up in a magicians cloak and top hat?
Surely this is trivialising life and death for the sake of £12 enterance fee. I understand lots of people wanted it, but just because people want something, doesnt necessarily make it right.
I think its pretty goulish tbh. :/

no, he wasn't

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Originally posted by throdgrain
I dont think it had much worth really. I didnt see it

Your immediate words after your opening sentence completely invalidates anything you say.

Brain anyone?

 

[~Lazarus~]

saw one of these in real life.

Not quite the same on television. Smells add an extra "dimension"

 

[Mellow-]

I watched part of it, but to be honest it turned my stomach so I switched it off. It is not acceptable viewing. Keep that shit to the morgue's and the medical students.

 

[throdgrain]

Originally posted by Wazzerphuk


Your immediate words after your opening sentence completely invalidates anything you say.

Brain anyone?

Standard stupid smug comment from Wazz....

I wouldnt watch such stuff if my life depended on it. Doesnt make any difference whatsoever. Not with something like this. Get a brain yourself. Isnt this a forum for discussing things ?

 

[granny]

I think there is a place for public autopsies and I think they could be useful - the point that he made about people being asked to consent to autopsies all the time without fully understanding what they're about is a very good one.

But. This kind of thing can be very traumatic for people. Quiet a few people have posted already indicating they find that kind of thing difficult to deal with - and that's a natural and common response. When medical students etc are seeing autopsies they are in a protected environment with support at hand - when you watch an autopsy on channel 4 you're in no such position. I just worry that some people may not have been fully aware of what they were about to witness when they tuned in and might have been traumatised by it and in that respect I think it was unethical of channel 4 to broadcast it.

I also think that professor von Hagens is a serious self-publicist and that his insistence on the eductional benefits of his works is just a handy device to sidestep criticism (and conservatism of course). I think if he touted his exhibitions more honestly (as art) then I'd feel less hostile to him.

Oh and I didn't watch it cos I was out at the cinema watching Die Another Day which was a top giggle if totally ridiculous And wtf is Halle Berry on about when she reckons her role is more "emancipated" than previous Bond girls? What a load of bollocks

 

[Wilier]

Originally posted by Testin da Cable
I can't watch stuff like that.

I too am quesy with that kinda stuff, but its amazing how, in an emergency situation, you can block it out.

We once got a shout to a guy who had been unfortunate enough to have an 8ft scaffold pole fall form about 150ft, bounce on concrete, and smash him in the back of the head.

I went to the hospital in the ambulance with him, trying to hold his brains in one place whilst a collegue tried to hold him onto the bed. He was conscious the whole time, and he turned waaayyyy violent when the shock began to wear off.

I wasnt sick until about 10 minutes after he had gone into the hospital and I was washing my hands. Bone scratches like hell.

 

[stu]

actually, what surprised me was the non-ickiness of the whole thing. The brain looked remarkably like a cauliflower, especially when he sliced it up with the knife and it just came away in chunks. I guess I didn't expect everything to be so... solid. Was interesting imo, and like anything else on telly if you dont want to see it, turn your telly over/off

 

[Testin da Cable]

erp


you are right though Willier. I can expose myself to stuff like that and walk away, but I have no desire to.

 

[throdgrain]

I expect you may recall me telling the story of a dead bloke I found a couple of christmas's ago who set fire to himself in the corner of a playing feild. Not fucking nice at all. I didnt get the urge to get a knife out and start poking about either, suprisingly enough ....

 

[Mellow-]

You can't leave the story hanging like that Wilier, what happened to him? Amazing operation and life? or death?

 

[PR.]

Originally posted by throdgrain
I expect you may recall me telling the story of a dead bloke I found a couple of christmas's ago who set fire to himself in the corner of a playing feild. Not fucking nice at all. I didnt get the urge to get a knife out and start poking about either, suprisingly enough ....

Maybe you didn't but when the corpse got down the morgue it probably went under the knife

 

[throdgrain]

Originally posted by PR.


Maybe you didn't but when the corpse got down the morgue it probably went under the knife

Carving knife possibly, it was medium rare I'd say ...

 

[Damini]

I watched it. It make my teeth hurt a bit (skull sawing anyone?) and it was a bit unsettling, but I think that the event itself wasn't a travesty. I'm a bit concerned about whether that man fully appreciated what would be done with his body, or what his family would think, but the actual thing itself was interesting.

It wasn't really educational, I think even if I hadn't watched that I could serial killer it up and work out what organ went where in the body, no startling revelations that weren't told already in GCSE biology.

What I did think was that it was good as it tackled a major taboo. I can take as many vitamins as possible, exercise and whatever but I'm still gone end up as dead as the next man. As is every single person I know. And yet I have no real knowledge, understanding, interaction with death. It's something we are terrified of, people run screaming from, and I'm not even talking about our own mortality so much as seeing it evident in other people. And I know I'm the same, and I don't even know why. We keep death so tucked away out of sight, and I think thats probably just as unhealthy as sliced old man on channel four.

Thats as profound as I get.

 

[Wilier]

Originally posted by Mellow-
You can't leave the story hanging like that Wilier, what happened to him? Amazing operation and life? or death?

He's still alive, but he dosnt work as a scaffolder anymore, in fact I think he's a bit messed up by the whole thing, not suprisingly.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Originally posted by throdgrain


Standard stupid smug comment from Wazz....

I wouldnt watch such stuff if my life depended on it. Doesnt make any difference whatsoever. Not with something like this. Get a brain yourself. Isnt this a forum for discussing things ?

Please tell me then, how can you decide if the programme has "much worth" without viewing it first? The main debate that's come under fire with the programe was the way in which it was presented, and whether or not it falls under 'enterainment' or 'educational' (even though these aren't the standards that Channel 4 must meet; anyone who knows about TV to a decent level will know why Channel 4 was setup, and the programmes it was told to broadcast to receive its license).

Channel 4 are doing what channel 4 are meant to be: bringing minority TV on subject matters that often lay cult interest (ie not in the masses) and more provocative programes, pressing issues in depth and with a greater degree of intelligence and worth than your standard TV mess.

Personally, I didn't watch it. I feel it had the right to be on television; anything (within reason) should be allowed be shown on television. If the content is strong, there is warning. People are complaining about how graphic the programme was and how disgusting it was only have themselves to blame. An autopsy is hardly going to be light viewing is it? Use your intelligence. You may not like it, and if so you're free to steer clear. But you're not one to judge what others see or choose to see.

 

[throdgrain]

Wandering off topic I know, but it's amazing what people can survive Willier innit ?
My brother -in-law a while back used to put he road cone out on the motorway for a job. Not much of a job from a computer geeks point of view I suppose, but a job all the same
Anyway , whilst doing this a bloke in a 7 ton luton van thought it would be funny to swerve straight towards him, thne turn away at the last moment. Unfortunatley he hit me bro-in-law in the face with the mirror of the van. he was chucked 15 feet into the air according to witnesses. Now Im sure that would have killed me ! But although he was in intensive care for weeks, and lost an eye, he did survive and is still around today. Lucky man Id say

 

[Testin da Cable]

wow that's lucky indeed Throddy peeps have survived amazing things heh [sadly people have managed to get themselves killed by some pretty amazing stuff too :/]

 

[~YuckFou~]

Afaik it was done in the name of art.
This would explain it's lack of educational value, art being subjective.
I didn't watch it, though I did see a news article about it. TBH I think paying to watch someone getting cut up is a backwards step for our society, Burke & Hare anyone?

 

[throdgrain]

Wazz , at least that is an intelligent response from you, rather than saying "get a brain"....
I personally feel that such a thing is inclined to trivialise death. People these days just seem to think that if they paid for something then its ok, they can do whatever they want, which is something i find kind of depressing tbh.
niether did I say that it shouldnt be allowed to be on tv, i would have hoped that no one wanted to watch it, but there you go, more than ever its a tv population these days it seems. But if I have been told correctly, and the bloke was dressed up like a victorian doctor or something, then it just makes me think of some kind of hideous 18 century fair side-show dressed up for the year 2001.
Like I said , thats my opinion, and you have yours, which is the point of a forum i would think.