Mortician

What's something about dead bodies that would surprise most people?

Asked by DRathzz about 10 years ago

The two things that were surprising to me, and two things I am confronted with every day, were the smell and the sheer weight of people. The saying is "dead weight" for a reason. I put bodies onto a stretcher, put the stretcher in my van, unload the van at the funeral home, and put the body onto an embalming table at least once a day. Not only are they heavy, but the body on a stretcher or a table is at a strange height from the floor (just above my waist on myself, I'm a little short), so you have to be very careful not to hurt your back, shoulder, or elbow. And don't get me started on getting a body dressed for a funeral. Just imagine dressing an adult male in a three piece suit without any help from him, and without ripping or getting smudges on any of his clothing.

Then there's the smell. Even a person that has recently passed has an odor, especially once you move them around and jostle some of the gases inside of them. A decomposing body is a special kind of horrible smell, like very old chicken mixed with hot garbage. The smell is one thing that I'm very glad embalming takes care of.

Have you ever been involved in a case where they had to had to dig up a grave for a police investigation? What would a body dug up after 5+ years look like? Just a skeleton?

Asked by Aaron about 10 years ago

I've never been involved in a disinterment personally, but my embalming instructor was involved in a case not long ago. He embalmed a very young girl and, about a year later, she was exhumed because it was suspected that one of her parents actually murdered her. After a year of being buried, she was still very much intact, and the authorities were able to gather the evidence they needed.

If a body is embalmed, it can last fairly intact for some time. It varies from person to person because of things like what condition the body was in when it was embalmed, whether or not the person had been on medications or had been a habitual drug user (especially methamphetamines, those can make embalming almost impossible), or how well the embalming fluid had been distributed throughout the body. There are no guarantees that embalming would prevent a body from decomposing for 10 years, 20 years, etc., but it does slow the decomposing process immensely.

How soon do you have to start to embalm a body to prevent it from decaying and making an open-casket impossible?

Asked by David1 about 10 years ago

 It really depends on a lot of factors. A body that died this morning in their bed is going to embalm much differently than a body that died this morning in the ocean. Things such as heat, moisture, exposure to the elements or wild animals, & even the person's body fat can cause decomposition to speed up. The rule with embalming is always the sooner, the better. The goal is to preserve and even restore what you can. Embalming really is incredible, in that it can not only disinfect & preserve a body, but it also plumps tissues and restores a rosy quality to the skin.

As far as an open casket goes, as long as any odor is retained, and the deceased's face is viewable, it is acceptable to show the family and friends.

 

Do you do a little of everything when you work at a funeral home? (E.g. embalming, makeup, cremation) What if you specifically want to do one type of work? Are there majors or concentrations in certain areas you can choose when in school?

Asked by minsy about 10 years ago

Almost everyone does a little of everything. I originally went to school mostly interested in mortuary cosmetology, only to find that profession is almost totally phased out because any funeral director who knows anything should be able to cosmetize a body. Employers look for the most useful person to hire; someone who is multitalented and does not have limitations to what they can or can't do. In school, eveyone is taught the same course load. Funeral college is technically a trade school, and (at least in my college) the courses are taught in an "accelerated learning" style, so you're taught 5-7 courses a semester, with a semester lasting 3 months, and 6 semesters total (18 months). Courses taught are:

• Principles of Anatomy I
• Principles of Anatomy II
• Principles of Inorganic Chemistry I
• Principles of Inorganic Chemistry II
• Principles of Embalming I
• Principles of Embalming II
• Principles of Embalming III
• Embalming Clinical Program (goes on throughout 2 semesters)
• Principles of Microbiology I
• Principles of Microbiology II
• Principles of Pathology I
• Principles of Pathology II
• Principles of Restorative Art I
• Principles of Restorative Art II
• Principles of Restorative Art III
• Principles of Accounting
• Computers in Funeral Service
• Funeral Service Management I
• Funeral Service Management II
• Funeral Service Management III
• Small Business Management
• Communication Sklls for Funeral Service
• Sociology of Funeral Service
• Psychology of Funeral Service
• Counseling/Grief Counseling
• History of Funeral Service
• Business Law
• Mortuary Law/Ethics
• United States History to 1865
• United States History from 1865
• English Composition
• Introduction to Literature
• Applied Business Mathematics
• General Psychology
• Comprehensive Survey and Review

How quickly did you get desensitized to death, or have you always been that way even before funeral college?

Asked by teletina about 10 years ago

I think it's been a fairly gradual process. The first time I had ever seen a dead body wasn't until I'd been in mortuary school for almost 9 months. I knew that I wasn't going to be squeamish or anything like that, and you're taught to look at the deceased human body in a very scientific and objective way. Your goal is to make this person look, well... less dead. I've learned to take pride in my work, and there's a very accomplished feeling that comes with fixing whatever may be physically wrong with this person (abrasions on the face, repairing an autopsied body, etc.)

I remember in one of my first cases that I assisted in embalming, I noticed my eyes playing tricks on me. If I stared at the deceased person's chest for a few moments, it would look like their chest was moving up and down, but only for a second.

Do people lose all color in their face when they're dead, and if so how do you make them look normal for an open casket viewing? Is it all just makeup?

Asked by B1 about 10 years ago

People's skin can turn a wonderful rainbow of colors after they've passed. Assuming they are of a lighter complexion, the deceased can become very pale, very cyan blue, very dark red/purple in the face (especially if they've had a heat attack), green, or in special cases of jaundice, just exactly as yellow as a Simpson's character. Even people with darker skin tones can have these color issues, but it's a little less noticable because their skin isn't so translucent. 

In the case of being pale, blue, or green, embalming will take care of that. The embalming fluid rinses out the vessels, while depositing subcutaneous dyes that are usually either tinted pink, to recreate the effect of blood flow under the tissues, or they're sort of a peachy orange color, which is very helpful for people with more of an olive skin tone and creates a bit of a tanned effect. This happens not only in the face, but all over the body, which helps makes things like the arms and hands look a little bit more pleasant for viewing. 

In the case of being a deep red or purple in the face, it is rather tricky. This is usually known as livor mortis, or post mortem stain. It happens when the blood has pooled in one place in the body for several hours, and the hemoglobin (the stuff that makes blood red) has been released from the blood cells and is now trapped in the skin. This stain will not come out, or will only rinse out minimally. This can happen anywhere on the body. In this case, yes, make up will be necessary to recreate a more accurate and pleasant complexion. 

In the case of jaundice, or being very very yellow, special embalming fluids are used to help rectify this problem. Embalming fluids come in different concentrations of formaldehyde. I like to compare it to the proof of different alcohols. A higher proof will contain more formaldehyde and will be stronger, while a lower proof will contain less formaldehyde and will be more gentle. For jaundice, lower proof fluids are used in large amounts, and the vessels are rinsed, letting the fluid cycle into and then out of the body and down the drain. This literally rinses the jaundice coloring out of the body, and when you are finished, the yellow discoloration will be almost, if not entirely, gone. If an embalmer was to accidentally embalm a jaundice body with medium to strong fluid, it would turn the body a deep, stained green, much like the Jolly Green Giant. This green is very bad news, and can only be fixed with a fair layer of cosmetics. 

When you hear about cases where a guy wakes up alive in a bodybag or a morgue freezer, has there ALWAYS been a mistake made by someone, or is it actually possible for a body to exhibit no vital signs at all, and then regain them later?

Asked by Blueblood about 10 years ago

I'm assuming that you're referring to the case that happened recently in Holmes County, Mississippi. Things like this almost never ever happen these days, because we have technology to moniter the most minute heartbeats, to check for the slightest breath, and to register every little pupil dilation. In this newest case with the Mississippi man named Walter Williams, they're hypothisysing that his pacemaker stopped, and then started again, and he came back to consciousness with the restart of his heart. Now, he was unconscious for about two hours (from what I understand), which means there has almost certainly been some harm done to things like his brain and vital organs from being deprived of oxygen for so long. The fact that he is alive at all really is a miracle. 

Honestly, I'm not a doctor or a coroner, and they are the people that make those final decisions about whether a person is truly dead or not. I know the first signs of a death, like the lips turning blue, no pupil dilations or contractions, no detectable pulse or breath, but a doctor, coroner, or a registered nurse must call the final time of death and diagnose the person as being dead. These people that make these kind of decisions do not make up their mind quickly or haistily in any way, so I do believe that when a person "comes back to life," that they really were originally not showing any detectable signs of life.