I saw my first cadavers a couple of weeks ago. It was a really neat and powerful experience. I can't stop thinking about the male one. He had so much suffering. I would love to know what conditions he had. Does anyone want to help me figure it out?
He had the following:
double heart bypass surgery
leg amputated above the knee
colostomy
feeding tube, but appears to be inserted into intestine, as they were not able to find a stomach on him.
emphysema
He passed away in his 70's from a burst intestine causing septic shock. That's all we know about him. What do you think he was afflicted with to cause all those combined health problems? Poor man.
SO if you did see this cadaver well what was the cause of death? What did the coroner say???
Who said anything about a coroner?
We had cadavers in my A&P class at a community college. We weren't told anything about the person's medical history. The bodies were donated to science and dissected for teaching purposes. It was interesting to see the results of various disease processes and to speculate about what may or may not have caused it.
Specializes in Trauma acute surgery, surgical ICU, PACU.
Who said anything about a coroner?
We had cadavers in my A&P class at a community college. We weren't told anything about the person's medical history. The bodies were donated to science and dissected for teaching purposes. It was interesting to see the results of various disease processes and to speculate about what may or may not have caused it.
Seems kinda strange to me that you wouldn't have been given the history of what the person had wrong with them, what past surgeries, etc....
We had that in school too. We were susposed to see what we could figure out. Not like homework and such, just to see what we could. Even our teachers did not know a full history.
Seems kinda strange to me that you wouldn't have been given the history of what the person had wrong with them, what past surgeries, etc....
Even the instructor didn't know. All they knew is that the man died from a ruptured intestine that got infected. They were given his age and what he died of. Same with the female they had. They had both been there for about 6 years. The female had a scar from an appendectomy and she had a pacemaker. She died of heart failure and was over 100.
Really, that's all anyone knew about them. Remember, this is an A&P class at community college, not advanced nursing classes.
Okay one weird thing that I forgot to mention before. The male was am amputee. So there was this other leg sitting in place of the missing leg that belonged to someone else!! It was obviously not his leg, because of the healed amputation and the fact that the foot did not match, and the leg had a lot more developed muscle. I guess the cadaver people wanted to give the college a complete cadaver!
we had cadavers in my program.. i often wondered what kinda of lives they lived and how much they suffered.. sounds like this man really suffered .. and had a big heart.. he gave his body to medical science... what a awesome person he must have been... may his soul be at peace
DM for sure. (it just goes along with everything you described. CAD and probably PVD. I venture purely a guess gastric cancer (although might not) Chrones maybe.
Correct me if I'm wrong (please), Chrohns can affect the entire gastro-intestinal tract, right? So, it could have affected this man's stomach as well as his intestines - which would require removal of the stomach. Or am I getting Crohns mixed up with something else?
I don't know - I've had way too much on my mind to think straight! I'm probably completely off!
I'm probably completely off!
Reno1978, BSN, RN
1,133 Posts
Who said anything about a coroner?
We had cadavers in my A&P class at a community college. We weren't told anything about the person's medical history. The bodies were donated to science and dissected for teaching purposes. It was interesting to see the results of various disease processes and to speculate about what may or may not have caused it.