HW 53- Independent Research A

1.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/21/us/21funeral.html?ref=funerals

Precis: When 92 year old Nathaniel Roe passed away, his body was dealt with in a very non-traditional way. His children decided that it would be best to bury him at home. Rather than calling a funeral home, they bathed and dressed their father's body in his favorite clothes. He was then buried on his own farm in a coffin made out of pine by his own son. In addition to that, the family only paid $250 for the whole process! In a few states, there are laws that require a professional who is associated with the funeral business to handle the body, but New Hampshire is not one of them so the family was able to do what the pleased with their father.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/world/asia/03burial.html?scp=1&sq=osama%20bin%20laden%20burial&st=cse

Precis: When Osama Bin Laden was killed, the United States chose to bury him at sea rather than on land in Pakistan to avoid his body becoming a symbol for remaining followers. Supposedly, all rights of a Muslim burial were given to him despite his many crimes. Although some supported the fact that he was laid to rest at sea in order to prevent the creation of a shrine/symbol, there were many who were opposed to it as well.

Although the two news articles deal with very different topics, they both can be tied back to the common issue of efficient vs. religious burial. The man who was given a home burial by his family was highly efficient, considering it only cost the family $250 and they could have chosen whatever type of religious ceremony they wanted. Also, one of the women who was speaking in the movie from class said that to be around the dead body of a loved one can be helpful to achieve realization with the fact that the person is really dead, which, according to her, leads to a more comfortable experience. The burial of Osama Bin Laden was different in the fact that the man was most likely hated by all the people who were around to watch him buried. However, it was similar when looking at the efficiency of it. Although the reasoning that was given was that his body was not buried on land because the area would become a shrine and an inspiration for bad men, it sure is a lot faster to just dump a body in the sea than actually see to it that it is buried. The religious aspect of the burial was not likely decided by the victim in this case.

2.

I am fortunate enough to live right across the street from a funeral home (http://www.hdmafuneralhome.com/), so getting inside to talk to someone seemed easy enough. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get much past the front desk, but the woman who was there was kind enough to answer a few of my questions. Being someone who has not actually been to a funeral home before, I asked her what it was exactly that they provided for people. She told me that they cover pretty much everything from preparation of the body to the services at the church as well as the coffin being set in the grave. But that was only for the traditional burial. She said that they handled cremation (which I found out costs $855 after going on the website!!) as well as customized burials. She described a customized burial as following many different religious customs, and also added that they had employees who would provide any kind of emotional support and consult needed. Typically, most funeral services take place mid-afternoon at this funeral home, and they usually do not handle more than one service in a day.

HW 52- Third Third of Care of the Dead Book

Precis: In the previous chapters of this book, I haven't even begun to get into all the astonishing atrocities that almost no one is aware of. In China all the way up until about 1910, a common practice was to consume parts of decayed human cadaver as medicine. Although it would not necessarily cure you, it was believed to ease pain when taken with alcohol. This choice was not out of desperation; many people actually enjoyed the meat of the dead. Aside from that, it has also been discovered that heads chopped off by the guillotine were actually functional for about 5 minutes after decapitation. After knowing all of this information, I still plan to donate my body and organs to science.

"Well, one can see that you don't look in the basket when they are all there together. You've never seen them twist their eyes and grind their teeth for a good five minutes after the execution. We are forced to change the basket every three months because they cause such damage to the bottom." (Roach, 201)

"On May 21, Guthrie succeeded in grafting one dog's head onto the side of another's neck, creating the world's first man-made two-headed dog." (Roach, 207)

"People were swallowing decayed human cadaver for the treatment of bruises." (Roach, 224)

"Likewise powdered human penis, as prescribed in the Chinese Materia Medica, was "taken with alcohol." The stuff might not cure you, but it would ease the pain and put a shine on your mood." (Roach, 228)

"Chong describes a rather gruesome historical phenomenon wherein children, most often daughters-in-law, were obliged to demonstrate filial piety to ailing parents, most often mothers-in-law, by hacking off a piece of themselves and preparing it as a restorative elixir." (Roach, 233) Ewww!

"He writes that in years past, another job perk of the Chinese executioner-in addition to supplemental income from human blood and fat sales-was that he was allowed to take the heart and brains home for supper." (Roach, 237)

As I was reading this last section of this exceptionally well written book, aside from being utterly disgusted, part of me thought back to the food unit. I'm sure at least most of us would agree that eating decayed human body parts is pretty vile, but as we learned in the food unit, so is eating most hamburgers in America. And similarly to the people in China who used to eat human cadaver, many of the students in this class are fully aware of what is inside that kind of processed meat, and yet many of us still choose to consume it simply because the taste is too enticing. I will never be able to look past my views on cannibalism, but in reality, who are we to judge these cannibalistic activities; at least what they did supposedly had health benefits!

HW 51- Second third of Care of the Dead Book

Precis: Although cadavers are sometimes used for lesser purposes, they are almost always helpful (at least for research) in some way. Cadavers can be operated on as practice so that real surgeries have a much higher chance of being successful. Not only that, the inside organs of most dead bodies tend to look, feel and react just like those of the living, which makes the training even more realistic. In addition to that, cadavers can also be used to help one discover when and how an accident such as a place crash may have occurred. After talking to many doctors about the way they felt about operating on cadavers, they often had casual responses that did not directly address the issue of the difference between performing surgery on the dead as opposed to the living.

"A young cock whose head Dr. Kaau suddenly cut off...as he was running with great eagerness to his food, went on in a straight line 23 Rhinland feet, and would have gone further had he not met with an obstacle which stopped him." (Roach, 181)

"On the inside, H looks very much alive. You can see the pulse of her heartbeat in her liver, and all the way down her aorta. She bleeds where she is cut and her organs are plump and slippery-looking." (Roach, 169)

"Does it feel odd to perform surgery on someone who isn't alive?
His answer is surprising. 'The patient was alive.' I suppose surgeons are used to thinking about patients-particularly ones they've never met-as no more than what they see of them; open plots of organs." (Roach, 194)

One part about the text that I thought was funny (well not exactly "ha ha" funny) was the way that many of the doctors responded to being asked if they felt any discomfort about operating on people who are dead. The fact that these doctors are able to completely look past the fact that they are cutting into dead people while barely even (or not at all) acknowledging that these people are not alive is astonishing to me, and honestly just downright strange. After thinking about it for a little while, I guess it sort of makes sense though, because I believe one of the guest speakers we had for the illness and dying unit said that doctors are trained to not treat patients like normal human beings when it comes to operations in the first year of medical school. On the other hand, being objective during surgery seems completely different from not being phased by operating on dead people all the time.

HW 49- Comments on your Best Break Homework

megumi said...

I found your post very interesting and got me thinking. I did not think the first thing your interviewees thought of when hearing the word 'death' was those that are close to them. I found this particularly interesting because I remember one of my close relatives had told me before that she worries more about my my life than her death-which was a shock to me at the moment but after reading your post I think it makes more sense.

HW 50- First Third of Care of the Dead Book

Precis: When bodies are donated to science, they may undergo many different purposes. For many, one of these purposes is to practice surgical procedures. However, these procedures can range from potentially life-saving if done on a living person to practice for nose jobs. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the practice of live dissections became popular. The reason for this is because the number of medical students was growing, while the amount of cadavers was more or less staying the same. Herophilus managed to dissect more than 600 live criminals. Today, there is only one field research facility in the world that serves the soul purpose of observing human decay. There are many signs that can be observed within the phases of human decay which can be used to help detectives in forensics.

"Cooper was an outspoken defender of human dissection. 'He must mangle the living if he has not operated on the dead.'" (Roach, 45)

"Enthusiasm got the better of compassion and common sense, and the man took to dissecting live criminals." (Roach, 40)

"The brain liquefies very quickly. It just pours out the ears and bubbles out the mouth." (Roach, 67)

The main thought that the book (especially chapter 2) has given me so far is disgust. I know that many of the units we have covered so far are intended to be topics that people do not really think about in depth very much, but this one is something that I haven't really thought about at all, not even bubbled. So when I read things that tell me that humans who have donated their bodies to science are having their heads cut off and surgeons practice nose jobs on them after they die, it is sickening. I am curious more about how bodies are dealt with in the present, although slightly afraid, compared to the 18th and 19th centuries.

HW 48- Family Perspectives on Care of the Dead

Although this assignment was posted before Easter when I saw quite a few of my older family members, I did not feel comfortable asking them questions about death and dead bodies at the time, so I decided to just speak to my parents. I started off by asking my father what he thinks of when he hears the words "death" and "after death" and he told me he immediately thinks of his mother and sister, and then sometimes starts to think about his father, who passed away when my father was only two years old. He told me that he knew the most popular methods of handling the bodies of those who have died are burial and cremation, but then he asked to himself, "However I'm not sure what happens to bodies that have been mutilated to the point where they do not even resemble humans any more, or bodies that have been cut into many pieces." As disturbing of a thought this is, it is also a pretty interesting one. When asked which way he would prefer to have his death dealt with, he immediately responded with cremation. He did acknowledge the fact that it is a less "green" method of caring for the dead, but that it was important to him that his ashes be kept by either my mother or myself.

I talked to my mother the next day. When I asked my mother what she thought of when hearing the words "death" and "after death" she said, "I think mostly of (a good family friend who recently passed) and my father, but then I start to think about religion and God and those kind of things." My mother also said the same thing as my father when asked about the ways she was aware of when caring for the dead, so I decided to ask her if there were any alternatives she would prefer. "Well, off the top of my head, I guess not, but maybe if I thought about it for a while I would be able to think of something more pleasant than either rotting underground or burning to ashes." My next question was which way she would prefer to be cared for after she passes away, and her opinion did not come nearly as quickly or clearly as my fathers. "Well...I'm sort of torn on this one. In my religion (Greek Orthodox Christian) cremation is not supported, but my personal opinion right now is that I don't really want to be buried either. At this point, I really can't say for sure."

The first interesting thing I noticed about both my mother and my father's opinions after interviewing them both is that the first thing they both thought of when hearing the words "death" and "after death" was people that were close to them and have now passed away. If they did think of some higher place and purpose for peoples lives or the afterlife, it was not until after they had acknowledged their dead friends and family in their minds. I find the same thing to be true for myself a lot of the time, which leads me to wonder if there is something about our society and the way we care for the dead that causes people to worry more about their friends and family then the concept of death itself. I also noticed that both of my parents seem to want, or at least lean towards, cremation instead of burial for themselves. I can only wonder if that has influence my opinion that I probably want to be cremated as well.

HW 47- Peer Perspectives on Care of the Dead

In order to understand the perspectives of the people around me regarding the care of the dead, I figured it would be easiest to first interview a friend that I am very close to. (however our family backgrounds are radically different) The first question that I asked him was "what do you know about the way dead people are treated after they have passed away?" He responded by saying "I mean, when I think of people dying, the first things that pop into my head are a funeral and a will. Now that I think about it, considering how greedy people are in America, it is surprising that there is enough respect to allow people to give all there stuff to whoever they want even after they are dead, cause' they don't really have any control over who gets what after that." This was an interesting comment for me, because I had forgotten all about wills in my previous thoughts and responses. When I asked about his experience with the care of the dead, he said that he had been to 4 funerals in his life, but he was not really close to any of the people and therefore doesn't feel very sad or have any sentiments relating to the events. "Even though one of the people who died was my grandmother, she was on my moms side of the family, and I'm not close to them because...(I have been asked to not reveal this information)" Finally, I asked him about the different methods of dealing with bodies that he was aware of, and which way he would prefer for himself. "Umm, I guess only to be buried or to be burned, and at this point I have no idea what I would want."

The next person I spoke to was one of my cousin's, who I am not as close to as the friend I spoke to before. However, our experiences with the care of the dead are much more similar, having been to a funeral together. When I asked her what she has noticed about the care of the dead, she said, "Well, from what I've witnessed there is always a long church service intended to celebrate the life of the person who has passed. After that, the funeral takes place, but for Ma (our grandmother who was cremated) the cremation did not take place until at least a few weeks after the funeral, compared to burials which usually happen on the same day. Once all the tears are shed, there might be a sort of party with food and drinks to lighten the mood." This response was almost exactly what happened with my grandmothers funeral service. However, I did not attend the cremation (and never have) and my cousin did, so next I asked her about what she observed there. "It was very sad, even more so then the funeral, and it was also strange to watch a person being cremated. However, this ritual seemed slightly more appealing then being buried underground and rotting away forever. The whole process felt very...important." The last part of her comment was extremely thought provoking to me, so I asked how she felt about all this weight and importance being placed on the care of the dead. "I think that it is good to respect the dead. Even though I am not extremely religious, I still think it is good that people celebrate the lives of others after they have passed."

The last person that I decided to interview was one of my co-workers at my job. She is a few years older than me, and has a baby, so I thought her opinions would be interesting and different to hear about. After asking how she felt about the way the dead are cared for in America today, she responded, "I think its nice that almost everyone gets their own funeral and so many people attend out of respect, but I think that funerals have become looked at as such negative occasions, rather than focusing on celebrating the life of whoever it is that has died." The next question I had was, "I agree with you, but if your baby were to pass away right now God forbid, wouldn't you have a hard time keeping your head up?" "Now that you mention it, you're probably right. I would like to say that I would try to accept that she was in a better place with my father, but inside I know that it would tear me apart. I guess that explains why funerals are such sad occasions for most people." The last question I asked her was if she would prefer a cremation or a burial for herself. "At this point, I really don't know. I have never seen it happen before; my father was buried. I think I would want to learn more about it before making a decision, because the idea of my body rotting underground doesn't sound that appealing to me."

Each of the three people I chose to interview had both bubble responses as well as responses that required actual thought process. Many of these ideas went hand in hand with some of my own opinions, such as when my co-worker said that burial does not sound appealing but that she would want to learn more about the ways that the dead can be cared for before making a decision. I thought my first respondent's comment about the idea of wills was an interesting one and it was something I hadn't thought about before. Finally, I was surprised at how none of my respondents explicitly stated that they would want a burial, when it is definitely one of the most popular ways to deal with the dead.