Before BODY WORLDS and public dissection is permanently banned, Prof. von Hagens has decided to resume the old tradition of public autopsy in Great Britain and to share the unique experience by opening a real human body in the presence of non-professionals. The aim of such an autopsy will remain professional, namely to establish the reason of death and to search for abnormalities. It will be performed on a consenting body donor.
Last night, the first public autopsy since 1830 took place in London, and yay,
we watched it on TV.
Professor Gunther von Hagens, the man who invented
plastination, brought us the
Bodyworlds exhibition and popularised
anatomy, may or may not be
prosecuted for a breach of the Anatomy Act. Hagens opened up the cadaver and removed all the organs, including the brain. Reading half of
these self-righteous crappy articles, you'd think that Krusty the Klown was the one opening up the skull with a hacksaw. Not so. It was beautiful.
Comments
Thanks for posting this, Gwen. I saw Bodyworlds in Basel, Switzerland about two years ago and it was incredible. Do you know where one could find a TV clip of the autopsy or if it will be aired again?
Posted by: lilliput | November 21, 2002 10:21 AM
I've tried to find a clip online, but without success. It was broadcast on Channel 4:
http://www.channel4.com/thinktv/
They haven't announced any plans to rebroadcast. Apart from the complaints that it was sick etc., many people said that the camera work was poor. Half of the shots were of members of the audience, who could see a lot more than TV viewers. That was my only grumble, too. I'll keep an eye out (ho ho) for any clips or repeats.
Posted by: gwen | November 22, 2002 4:17 AM