Would you work in a Morgue ?

brummytom

dark crystal wrote: »

When I first read the thread title I though, yeah I'd have no problems at all working around corpses, but then I thought, what if a dead child arrived down? - Now that, I'd have a problem with. I'd find handling a child's dead body very upsetting.

I know people who've been doing the job 30 years and still seem on the verge of tears when we get the message in that a child's died. There was a young girl a few weeks ago who got knocked down on her 6th Birthday and died, the atmosphere in the rest room was incredibly sombre, usually full of swearing and smut, but absolutely nothing that day. It effects everyone, you'd have to be completely numb for it not to, but you just get on with it and act as a professional.

As Abi said, someone has to do it. Of course it's upsetting, and it will depress you, but you just do your best to treat the person how you'd want them treated if it was your own family. I don't think there are many people who can detach themselves from death - I know nurses, policemen, and even an undertaker who still feel uncomfortable about it, but you just work through it.

kowloon

af_thefragile wrote: »

Or turn them into flying helecoptors!!!

Orvillecopter was only the beginning.

Sikorsky have taken Gunther von Hagens on board and are hammering out plans for quadrotor conversions kits for deceased relatives and loved ones.

chughes

KTRIC wrote: »

I used to work in an Egyptian morgue, you lot fill in the rest :pac:

Was that like some kind of pyramid scheme?

dj jarvis

i worked in a morgue for a contract cleaning company when i was 16 !!!
it was the one in vincents hospital in Dublin ,

on my first day - i was shown into the examinations room with its metal tables and little red blood stained boots next to it

i was asked " are you squeamish ? " as she was showing me around and pointing out tools for cutting bones and skull

one day i had to polish the floor of the chapel of rest next to the morgue ,
one problem , there was a dead old guy laid out in his coffin waiting to be viewed by his family

now this chapel is tiny and they gave me a huge buffer to work with ( the things that spin violently from side to side )
i said no way am i using that in here with him , i would have knocked the coffin over and sent him flying

so i opted to do it by hand , and the weirdest thing was every time i raised my head from the floor and looked at the body , it looked like it was sitting back down really quick , EVERYTIME :eek:
my head was wreaked by the end , i was sure he was sitting up and looking at me

but sure i would have no problem working in a morgue again - the dead will never harm ya - its the living that are dangerous
i have never been mugged or attacked by a corpse ( YET )

Abi

Larianne wrote: »

I almost applied to an ad for a trainee embalmer. I'm a trained make-up artist so didn't think there would be much difference. But I spoke to a relative who is a pathologist and a lady who used to do flowers for funeral homes and both turned me off the idea. The florist told me many become alcoholics. And well didn't fancy the heavy lifting. Wasn't sure I could deal with the dead bodies...

I think that the people that turn that way probably shouldn't be doing the job. My thinking on it would be that you're in some way restoring the way a loved one looked for the grieving family just long enough for them to be buried / cremated.

I would it would imagine it would be more comforting for family and friends of the deceased to see them that way, as death automatically changes the appearance (obviously). The face will automatically begin to thin out and the colour gone from the face will only add to the upset. Thats only in death under normal circumstances. Imagine how it would look to see a crash victim or something without any work done on the deceased..

So, it would be an important job that offers some comfort to loved ones, no matter how minute.

brummytom wrote: »

It effects everyone, you'd have to be completely numb for it not to, but you just get on with it and act as a professional.

This.

Because I took an interest in it I wanted to test all my boundaries and watch post mortem videos. The autopsy of the anatomy is not the hard part, it's dealing with circumstances of the death that would be the hard part. Everyone thinks they'd be okay with it, but put it into practice - I reckon there would be more no answers than yes here.

akura

Id be creeped out when the bodies start farting!

KoolKid

You would get used to it. I knew a guy some years back who was a pathologist . He had no problem just walking away washing his hands & going out for lunch. He considered his job similar to a butchers. Its only meat & blood.. A morgue is just a big freezer really.

mardybumbum

I did an elective in Pathology last summer and attended a few Postmortems. They didn't bother me in the slightest tbh. I reckon if I hadn't dissected cadavers during anatomy I would probably be a bit disturbed by it.