Bodily Integrity.
It still matters greatly in so many cultures. The American idea that everything can be bought and sold is not a commonly held one...
SEATTLE — A man who died of COVID-19 was dissected in front of a paying audience, and his widow had no idea.
The family of David Saunders, 98, learned of the autopsy from a KING 5 investigation that exposed the Oct. 17 cadaver class in Portland, Oregon. A similar event in Seattle was canceled.
Event organizers sold tickets for up to $500 to the public to view in-person the autopsy and dissection of a human body. The event is part of the Oddities and Curiosities Expo, which travels across the country.
“It makes me really feel saddened that this gentleman was not given the dignity and the respect that he deserved and what he thought and his family thought that would be happening to his body,” said Mike Clark, a funeral director in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Clark handled the preparation of Saunders’ body as it was handed off to a private company that the family thought would use his corpse for medical research. Instead, Saunders ended up in a Portland Marriott hotel ballroom as the centerpiece of an autopsy and dissection before a live, paying audience.
Event organizers sold tickets for up to $500 to the public to view in-person the autopsy and dissection of a human body. The event is part of the Oddities and Curiosities Expo, which travels across the country.
“It makes me really feel saddened that this gentleman was not given the dignity and the respect that he deserved and what he thought and his family thought that would be happening to his body,” said Mike Clark, a funeral director in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Clark handled the preparation of Saunders’ body as it was handed off to a private company that the family thought would use his corpse for medical research. Instead, Saunders ended up in a Portland Marriott hotel ballroom as the centerpiece of an autopsy and dissection before a live, paying audience.
A group of funeral directors notified Clark this week after KING 5’s investigation aired.
“I was totally horrified,” Clark said. “Our whole staff was horrified that this is what had happened to a gentleman that he and his family thought that his body was going for the advancement of medical students.”
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