I watched a discussion tonight by the author of "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" on Book-TV. It was very frightening.
The reading described a row of heads covered with towels laid out for a practice session of plastic surgeons.
The author has put away her "brain donation" card from Harvard after seeing how the brains are sliced up and put in zip bags.
One physician apparently hung a cadaver on a cross to see if the blood matched that on the Shroud of Turin.
Skin is harvested from bodies for use on burn victims.
Basically, it really gave you a creepy feeling about being a cadaver.
The writer was Mary Roach who does witty columns for Salon, Reader's Digest and other publications.
A Christian believer in the "after-life" said only faith helped himn deal with such questions.
Interestingly, the Catholic Church demands that "remains" be buried. So, now you can be cremated but your ashes have to be buried.
Amazingly, there is no shortage of bodies. However, people can opt just to donate their tissue or their organs.
It was interesting that Book TV broadcast the 40 minute program only once--no repeats. Cadavers don't seem to be very popular.
