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Young mans brain kept after autopsy.

I seem to recall a similar story regarding the NHS here in the UK. I can't be bothered googling it though!

Sorry!
 
They saved Einstein's brain as well, by the way. I remember seeing an interesting TV programme all about the examination that was done on it and what was discovered.

It's perfectly legitimate to preserve clinical specimens in this way. It's done all the time. It would be impossible to reach a proper diagnosis or advance our understanding of disease without it.

The point is, first there has to be a genuine reason for preserving the specimen. Just because you feel like adding it to your collection doesn't cut it. And second you should be getting permission from the relatives. If the relatives didn't know, then found out later, then it's understandable they're a bit pissed off. Having said that, I believe Einstein's brain was preserved without permission, because a pathologist thought it was too important to let it rot.

Rolfe.
 
They way they found out was rather unfortunate though:

students of the same Staten Island, New York, high school Jesse had attended ... on a field trip to the morgue couldn't believe what they noticed on a cabinet in the medical examiner's lab. "They saw this jar with a brain in it labeled Jesse Shipley"
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Perhaps some sort of reference number might be sensible next time.
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
Apparently you're not looking for a payday. Don't you realize how traumitized they are? This has just ruined their lives! At least until the next outrage comes along.
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Oh, but it's not about the money. It's to keep other bereaved parents from being traumatized by such callous behavior by government officials. Of course, a sum in the 6-7 figure range is necessary to assure that something like this will never happen again (but they'll probably settle for 5 figures). :boggled:
 
The handling of human remains is always a sensitive part of biomedical ethics.

As mentioned, the preservation of human remains as curios is extremely unethical. People who handle remains are in a pretty trusted position, and abuse is a genuine betrayal. Not just for the relatives of the deceased, but for the rest of us who will someday go through that process ourselves.

I remember when we were examining donated remains for an anthropology course. One of the guys kept walking around with the skull doing a puppet routine.

My thought: "What's wrong with him?"
 
KingMerv00 said:
Is it weird that had I been in the parents' shoes, I would not be angry?
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Is it weird that I am even mystified by such reactions?

To be useful after death, for research, teaching or medicine, is FUNKING AWESOME! That's what I like for my remains. And yes, if someone wants to play puppets with my skull, GO FOR IT! Have fun! Live! I won't be feeling a thing.

I heard there's a woman in Sweden that wants to, or has, developed a process to compost human remains. If my body otherwise has no use, that's cool, too.

"You see that tree over there, Jimmy? All thanks to Uncle Bob!"
 
I remember reading (in a Arthur Haley novel, perhaps?) that pthologists are frequently prevented from doing thorough autopsies because of requests that the upper chest and head not be violated, but they know from long practice that any tissue at all can be examined from a cut in the abdomen, or in the brain's case, through the nose.

(Halloween's coming!!!)
 
KingMerv00 said:
Is it weird that had I been in the parents' shoes, I would not be angry?
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Maybe considering the circumstances. Turns out some field trip of kids went through the morgue and the name of the brain's previous owner was there on the jar for all to see. Worse, some of the field trip kids apparently knew the dead kid. That's how the info got out and eventually to the parents.:eek:

Suit: Kids Found Dead Classmate's Brain at Morgue

Body parts kept or not, that is one serious breech of medical confidentiality.
 
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richardm said:
They way they found out was rather unfortunate though:



Perhaps some sort of reference number might be sensible next time.
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Um, to be a turd in the punchbowl here....has anyone thought this might not have actually happened?

I know a few people that have worked in morgues, and other places of which specimines are kept. And a popular, urban legend is the exact story. Off the top of my head i can think of 6 times i have heard versions of this story. The latest being on the set of a local film that was shot partly in a morgue ( actress saw her sisters heart in a specimine jar, and had to be taken away.)

I just find it a wierd coincidence that someone happened to have an experience that synchs up perfectly with an urban legend.
 
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