US widow horrified after learning of ‘pay-to-view autopsy’ of dead husband in hotel ballroom
- Dozens of people in Oregon pay up to US$500 each to watch live dissection of human body
- Widow decries husband’s body being used like a ‘performing bear’ for paying spectators
The organiser of a pay-to-view autopsy in the United States defended the event, after an outcry by the family of the dead man who did not know he would be dissected in front of a live audience.
Around 70 people forked over up to US$500 each to watch in person an anatomist cut up the body of 98-year-old David Saunders in a hotel ballroom in Oregon last month.
Over the course of several hours, Saunders’ organs – including his brain – were removed by Dr Colin Henderson, a retired professor of anatomy, in a procedure he said he had performed frequently during his teaching career, local broadcaster King 5 reported.
Video filmed by the channel shows audience members donning surgical gloves and appearing to touch the body.
“It was very educational,” the outlet quoted an attendee named Monica as saying. “It was very respectful to the person that donated their body.”
The event was organised by Death Science, which calls itself “an independent education platform that works with educators to teach beyond the classroom”.
Tickets for the double-header event said the morning would be “a forensic autopsy on a full human cadaver”.