Human Dissection

Nursing Students General Students

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So I'm taking AP courses at the moment and while looking for good videos on youtube to help me learn visually on how certain body systems worked, I ran into Dr. Gunther Von Hagens' anatomy lessons. I thought they were a bit helpful and interesting....well until I found out he's not dissecting intricate fake human corpses but real ones. It was a little bit disturbing. I had signed up to donate my entire body to science upon my death and remember seeing something along the lines of 'treating the body with respect' but uhh...I hope I get more respect than the corpses on his show. Is that really how cadavers are treated at medical schools? I get that its for science and he's trying to work efficiently but he just seemed so blase about it. Any thoughts on his lessons?

Also I'm pre-nursing so yes, I am a bit squeemish. I mean he was just ripping the skin off from the body (I thought that was only possible in movies) and then when he started chopping up a man's "favorite" appendage I just about :eek:bugged out.

he covered the face. i've seen my brother skin squirrels, their skin/fur comes off like that. the live naked model was nicely shaved.

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

I know it seems cruel, but the body is put together pretty solidly. Docs in the OR work the same way. That's part of the profession. Treating the body disrespectfully would be laughing and making nasty jokes while doing this work. When a doc is cutting a cancer out of someone you don't want him tiptoeing through the tulips.

Ever try pulling skin off a chicken? Or watch a chef working on a piece of meat? Not much difference.

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