As I said in class to Jeff, these readings made me uneasy, or uncomfortable. It wasn't that I was grossed out, but I was disturbed to know that these people were dug up out of their graves, their final resting places for the sake of science and to be posed crudely for photos with the medical students. Washington made the comment in chapter five that the families of those dug up not only were robbed of their freedom in life, but also in death. For a lack of words, this struck me, I'm not sure how to describe what exactly I felt, other than, "How true". It makes you wonder if the professors and medical students ever thought of their behavior in this way, if they ever had any regrets. As mentioned in last week's readings, a young medical student felt bad for the women he was "working on", noticing how much pain they were in from the experiments inflicted on them. Within a year of officially practicing, that same doctor had completely turned around his attitude, ignoring their pain and no longer sympathizing for them. Did the same happen with these medical students? Did the at first feel bad for those they worked on? Ever wonder how the body came to be on their examining table to begin with? Did anyone ever question or challenge the idea of performing dissection on those who never consented in life? It all seems so odd to me that with these last few weeks of readings, that everyone went along with what was happening. There is always at least one who goes against the crowd... Why are they lost to history? And why are those who were dug up from their final resting place also lost forever, not only in history, but the body as well?
Erin Pattridge
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