In Depth: Autopsy
by Wendy Alexander
December 9
Today was a first for Ord High School students as they participated in a video conference of an autopsy. The In Depth: Autopsy program was sponsored by ESU10, Ohio State Medical School and COSI. Ord High School students who have taken Physiology and Chemistry viewed a pre-recorded autopsy while Dr. Larry Tate described the procedure and answered questions.
The overall goal of the In Depth: Autopsy program was for the students to determine the cause of death. Before the autopsy students reviewed the patients Case History. Following the external observations, the students participated by recording organ measurements and observations. To determine the cause of death, they then compared their findings with normal ranges.
Read on, to find out what our students thought of this experience:
Chelsey Welton ~ I liked observing the internal organs and getting to investigate by seeing what’s wrong. I want to go into pharmacy school and the toxicology study during the autopsy was really interesting. This isn’t an everyday thing. When you can actually see it, that was really interesting.”
Debra Wray ~ “It was a great opportunity to see something that we wouldn’t see in a small town. Also to learn more about the different fields connected to an autopsy.”
Megan Cullers ~ “I like dissecting, but this bothered me because it was a human. It was a good experience to see what I could tolerate, but seeing the knife on the head was too much. I did like the heart dissection. They did a good job showing and talking about all the different parts we studied in physiology. It was cool to see it live.”
Jon Campbell ~ “It was an awesome experience that I knew nothing about, but I learned a lot.”
Tom Shepperd ~ “It was interesting. You learned about how to tell what a person died from.”
Winona Sam ~ “Watching the autopsy made me very interested in becoming a forensic pathologist. I would do this again.”
Dalton Boden ~ “The fact that it was an in depth search about everything in the human body was really interesting. They looked at every possibility as to the cause of death. The things we’ve learned in chemistry, physiology, and biology were applicable to this experience. I wish I could have been in the autopsy room versus over the distance learning system.”
Aaron Vancura ~ “It wasn’t as gory as I thought it was going to be. It was interesting to see the different techniques they used for dissection. Even though I’m not going into this field, it was a good thing to know for general knowledge.”
Pedro Camacho ~ “It was cool, a nice experience. My favorite part was the gross dissection of the brain.”
Abby Welniak ~ “It was interesting. I enjoyed looking at the bile and the gall bladder, and the dissection of the liver. It looked like a ham.”
Sara Wadas ~ “I don’t know. I’m glad I did it. I enjoyed looking at the organs.”
Brittney Ries ~ “It was really interesting and made me more interested in a medical field. I think its cool to figure out how people died, kind of like CSI. After watching this I think I could do it. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.”
Ian Blaha ~ “In strength training we watched the dissection of a cadaver and I like the CSI shows. I liked to see how they dissected each individual organ. The techniques that they used interested me. They really knew what they were doing. I learned a lot of stuff I didn’t know before this, such as how they compared the sides of the brain and looked for faults. I’ve always liked the science field.”
Alisha Peterson ~ “It was a cool, interesting learning experience. To see them figure out how the guy died and go through all the different body parts was cool. I want to do something in the medical field probably and I have a different perspective on the human body and more information on how it works. The brain removal was gruesome.”
Liz Vavra ~“It was really interesting and not that disgusting. It was neat that they actually took the time to let us ask questions.”
Kelsey Howard ~ “It was interesting, but different than I thought it was going to be. It wasn’t as personable because you didn’t think of him. I was more interested in the general anatomy and trying to come up with an explanation for his death.”
Blake Philbrick ~ “No comment.”
McKenzie Daily ~ “I didn’t know how in depth they went, when they examined the body. They went into every single part. Awesome. It was great!”
Mrs. Alexander ~ “I was a little hesitant, but after the first few minutes you were so engrossed in the anatomy and trying to find the cause of death for the patient, I overcame my fears. I think the reason pathology and CSI programs have become so popular, is because we want to know WHY? If it’s unusual in healthcare it ends up in pathology. This experience, along with many others, ignites students’ passions to investigate the unknown. I love that about education.”
