Swedish Medical Students Shocked When Autopsy Cadaver Turns Out To Be Their Professor

A group of Swedish medical students preparing to perform an autopsy on a medical cadaver were appalled to find out that the body was that of their former professor.

Course coordinators at the Karolinska Institute called the situation "extremely unfortunate."

Typically, it is standard practice for students to know who they will be conducting an autopsy on ahead of the event. But that did not happen in this case.

Even though the students recognized the body of their professor, they held their tongues went through with the procedure as planned. One student called the experience "very emotional."

Department Head Tina Dalianis told news agency TT that the event was "terrible" but "part of education sometimes."

"Unfortunately, they must deal with it," she said.

Comments

[mick e]

12:15 PM on 12/29/2010

Talk about dedication...

[palindrom]

10:54 PM on 12/22/2010

A friend of mine had a cadaver in med school. He named him "Earnest", because he was working in "dead Earnest". Humor aside, he took me in after hours and showed me the intricate tendons and musculature of the hands and arms, the fat deposits in the coronary arteries, the quarter-size brown spot on the heart where the tissue had died in the poor man's final minutes -- altogether, an amazing, unforgettable sight. No wonder they require medical students to dissect -- I can't imagine any other way to commune so intimately with the miracle of our physical selves.

[palindrom]

10:28 PM on 12/22/2010

If I were the professor (and I am actually a professor) I'd be delighted to help my students one last time. We die. Get over it.

[CatherineCoy]

12:40 PM on 12/30/2010

There's no need to marginalize the students' response to performing an autopsy on someone they personally knew. Grow up!

[SteveDenver]

01:34 PM on 12/22/2010

This professor continued to provide valuable education to his students, even after his death. I have heard that medical students can sometimes be disrespectful to lab corpses, but I'm sure that didn't happen in this situation.

[delta7777]

06:10 AM on 12/22/2010

.
the experience will indelibly impress on the minds of the students
that the persons they will encounter in their practice medicine
are very real human beings that they know
and interact with at a personal level,
They will lose all perception of patients as being
impersonal "cadavers"-to-be,
and will become far better doctors as a result of this.
.

[Howard53545]

04:47 AM on 12/22/2010

Payback is something else. A cut here A cut there for that D grade you gave me.

[Rachael Crawley]

03:09 AM on 12/22/2010

I can see how that might help if, say, you were working in a small town where you knew everyone, or just in a situation where you could not refuse to treat someone, even someone close. That ability to detach and act professional could really help them down the line.

[Kyle Asap Hoyt]

12:43 AM on 12/22/2010

It's hard to place yourself in those shoes. Imagine how weird it was for the Professor...............

[gangwayjan]

09:53 PM on 12/21/2010

My dad did autopsies; took pictures of them for medical studies and teaching purposes. My first job (at 14) was to help him prepare the organs for their "close ups." One rule he had ws to never do a procedure on anyone he knew.

Having said that, jeez, what's the students' problem? It is life --- and death -- get over it. This man of science gave his all to science. Apprecite his sacrifice; glory in his committment; make that "Y" incision and learn. That's the point.

[Tristan Luther]

09:25 PM on 12/21/2010

Hilarious.

[abuja19]

09:04 PM on 12/21/2010

How unfortunate. However, if they are to become excellent medical professionals they will have to operate on all kinds of people and sometimes that may include the people they know.

[Drew2248]

08:19 PM on 12/21/2010

Unfortunate and shocking, no doubt, but perhaps good training in dealing with the intense emotions which doctors will have to deal with from time to time. Imagine if it was one of their friends or close relatives in an emergency situation and they were forced to operate on them? Sometimes, you have to suck it up, I guess. Thank goodness I'm not a doctor, though.

[iRock]

07:24 PM on 12/21/2010

Wow. I wouldn't wish that on anyone!

It is apart of the education, but doctors don't even perform on people they know! That's INSANE!

What a shame.

(Unless this was the professors wish.)

[Republicrat1776]

06:32 PM on 12/21/2010

wow....so much missing from this story I don't even know where to begin

[IDIOTA]

07:49 PM on 12/21/2010

Right?

[CatherineCoy]

12:41 PM on 12/30/2010

No kidding. Such as compassion on the part of some hard-hearted posters here.

[gonetoutah]

06:15 PM on 12/21/2010

Cold hearted bunch, eh?

[RFlo]

06:20 PM on 12/21/2010

No. If you are training to be a pathologist, you can't exactly sit there and cry over every dead body you autopsy.

[CatherineCoy]

12:06 PM on 01/01/2011

Why, yes, cold-hearted. Why marginalize the feelings of brand new medical students to something they didn't anticipate. Put yourself in their shoes for just a little minute. Maybe, confronted with the same surprise, you wouldn't respond so flippantly yourself.