Let's start out with a disclaimer. This will not be very graphic but if your squeamish maybe you should skip this story.
I have an AA in Law Enforcement that I got from De Anza Jr. College in Cupertino, Calif. One of my classes was Patrol Procedures and our instructor managed to arrange an autopsy for the class. Wow ,were we excited and everyone showed up. No one cut class that day. Not that anyone in this class cut class very often, especially me. The date was set and our instructor gave us the address where to meet him for our tour of the county facilities. The autopsy was going to be done at Santa Clara County coroners office. We had to meet our teacher so that we could sign in and get our visitor badges. After signing in and getting our badges we went down the elevator to the basement to the coroners office and their autopsy rooms.
As we entered the room there was a large table in the middle of the room. Obviously there was a body under the sheet that was on the table. As all of us gathered around, the person doing the autopsy told us that if we felt like we were getting sick or going to faint to leave the room. Our teacher had already had us buddy up so that if we did get sick or afraid that we might pass out, we had someone to help us. As our assistant coroner was ready to start he pulled off the sheet and exposed our victim to us. He was a male that was about 62 years of age. There was no known cause of death, that's why they were doing the autopsy. They did know that he died alone and that they knew he was an alcoholic and that was about all.
Not remembering the assistant coroners name I'll just call him the teacher since he was teaching us. He started out with an incision from just below the esophagus down to the belly button. This was to allow access to the innards. After the incision, he used an electric saw to cut the ribs so he could get to the vital organs. After cutting the ribs out completely he then started to remove vital organs one at a time starting with the heart. The first thing is to weigh it and record that, then the lungs, then the next organs in their proper order which I don't remember. So far I am doing okay and only 3 girls have left the room. After removing everything and weighing them, and even slicing the liver, heart and some of the other organs, our teacher is going to examine the brain. He made an incision all the way around the head and then he brought the electric saw back out and started to saw the skull to gain access to the brain. This is when I lost it, I was getting dizzy and I was afraid I would faint or get sick. After leaving the room for awhile I felt better and I returned.
As the teacher got the brain out and started to slice it, he showed us things that indicated minor strokes and other things that were in the brain that I don't remember now. This was back in 1970 or 1971 so my memory is not the best. When I got back into the room, he was telling us things that they look for and showing us things that indicated that the man had died of natural causes. I was feeling fine and the info kept me interested. I really think that when he used the saw to cut open the skull, it seemed inhuman to me, even though he was dead, and that's what got to me. Really stupid to let that get you upset.
After it was all over I can say that it was the most interesting and exciting thing that I've ever been lucky enough to see. I did finish school and I got my A.A. in Law Enforcement but I never became a policeman, because I could never make weight requirements. But I do not believe any education is wasted and I have been fortunate to have gotten an A.A. degree from De Anza College. I am very proud of my degree.
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