Autopsies vs Dissection

A few weeks back, I attended a postmortem of a poison case. The decease was an old lady. Such a very stressful scene that I can picture it here. Yes, I admit that this year of having Forensic Medicine as a subject give a lot of experience to me. Watching all of those autopsies made me keep on thinking and wondering about human creation and the purpose of life.


My very first experience of touching a dead body, I mean the cadaver in anatomy dissection hall was not that scary as I imagined before in Malaysia. That was in the first year, first day of being medic student kot. Awal-awal dah tengok mayat. Isk. So Dr Deep who was our dissection table lecturer, used to talk and give some panduan to potong-potong mayat. And we took turn to cut the cadaver, lapah kulitnya, exposed the organ inside, and jaga-jaga jangan terpotong nerve or vessels. From a very perfect cadaver, we changed him into an unknown identity of a human. With the opened chest, taken his heart, liver, lung and everything, leaving only the skeletal with a little bit kulit, the feel of takut-takut or seram-seram was not there at all. Memang tak ada langsung perasaan itu.

One year of dealing with those things make me already immune. The smell of cadaver, formalin and the human brain, become my fragrance every morning. Balik bilik pun bau mayat. The smell particles adhered to my labcoat, I guess. Itu semua adalah untuk tujuan ilmu, tiada yang lain. I never mean to torture the body for fun. Kesian tu adalah jugak awal-awal, tapi entah ke mana hilangnya sense of humanity of mine day after day. But we do learn a lot from that. Orang-orang sini yang miskin sangat, mereka jual dead body of their family for money. Bayangkan, susahnya hidup mereka. Dan saya? Masih sentiasa merungut. So after the cadaver being sold, they will undergo the process of awet mayat (I forgot the term dah lepas first year, dah mula lupa) So, few years after, we use the cadaver for our study purpose. Satu batch dapat 6 cadaver eh. Eh tak, to be exact, 6 cadavers per year akan di korbankan di meja dissection kami.

Tak cukup dengan itu, setiap kali ada Spotters Anatomy, lambakan-lambakan bahagian badan manusia akan diletakkan atas dissection table for study purpose. Which part of the body you need to study? Just name it. Satu tray of human hearts, then the other tray of other organs like, uterus, brain, etc. They come with many variation, like, abnormal obturator artery at pelvic part. (soalan spotter anatomy paling kontroversi untuk batch 20 ) Tak usah berebut, kerana specimen pasti cukup untuk semua student. Seronok? Ya, anatomy adalah subject yang agak seronok, cuma bila waktu exam, punyalah susah soalannya.

Itu cerita first year. But, this year autopsy was TOTALLY different experience than that dissection for anatomy. Mayat yang akan dibedah adalah fresh. Only few hours of death. It is under a legal purpose. All students should attend at least 4 autopsies for eligibility to sit for final exam. My first time experience in watching postmortem was kind of unforgettable moment in my life. The way they done it, the process, oh my god, that just too cruel for me. I almost cried for seeing the body undergo such procedure. The case was a road traffic accident. No need to mention how severe the condition of the body before the autopsy. (saya rasa ianya agak ngeri) 5 minutes the process began, a students fall, faint. Then later another one, fall, dengan muka pucat lesi. One by one kena. Those students that cannot bear to watch the process can stay away for a while. Saya sendiri terasa berpeluh-peluh. Alhamdulillah saya bertahan sehingga akhir proses.

Kenapa sampai pengsan? Mungkin ada yang tak tahan tengok darah yang membuak-buak terpancut keluar. Atau kerana procedure autopsy yang saya boleh samakan dengan process menyiang ikan. They will pull the tongue until the rectum, take out everything just like that. For the first time viewer memang ianya sangat ngeri. Serious, I wont take forensic medicine.

Dr Vincent (Anatomy lecturer)

About the poison case, it was still under police investigation as they still do not know if the decease can be classified under homicide or suicide. Yang pastinya saya kena menyiapkan case report dan saya sangatlah malas(penyakit lama masih ada).

What I want to say, saya sangatlah sentiasa dekat dengan kematian. Watching the dead body and knowing the cause of death, and dealing with dead body, should always remind me of death. I wont know what is the cause of my death, when it will be, and how will it be. He can take me at any time. From He we came, to Him we return. The question is, adakah saya sudah bersedia untuk mati? Cukupkah amalan saya? Dan saya sentiasa terlalai.