# Has any live person ever ended up having an autopsy done on them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 20, 2009, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-live-person-ever-ended-up-having-an-autopsy-done-on-them/514476 "2009-10-20T13:55:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bathsheba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@bathsheba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bathsheba)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-live-person-ever-ended-up-having-an-autopsy-done-on-them/514476/21 "2009-10-20T21:42:29Z")
Staff on a cardiac ward told me this story. Patient died (expected death). Was monitored at the time, and went into asystole. Doctor pronounced her dead. As the nurses were washing her body, she suddenly said, “That’s cold!”. Monitor back on and she’s in sinus rythm. This went on for a further five hours; long periods of asystole followed by periods of sinus rythm with the patient lucid and verbalising until eventually the asystole became a permanent condition. I imagine that in this scenario, an autopsy could have begun, though if she “woke” with a cold flannel, I’m fairly sure she would have complained about being cut up. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-live-person-ever-ended-up-having-an-autopsy-done-on-them/514476/22 "2009-10-20T23:58:34Z")
I always thought, for no particularly good reason I might add, that autopsies started with the draining of the blood out of the body. So, of course, no one could survive or wake up during. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-live-person-ever-ended-up-having-an-autopsy-done-on-them/514476/23 "2009-10-21T02:57:19Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > I always thought, for no particularly good reason I might add, that autopsies started with the draining of the blood out of the body. > > So, of course, no one could survive or wake up during. I think that’s embalming, not part of an autopsy. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-live-person-ever-ended-up-having-an-autopsy-done-on-them/514476/24 "2009-10-21T04:46:23Z")
> [@](#): > > I edited the OP of the thread to remove a spoiler about a recently broadcast television episode. Yeah, but you missed it being quoted in the second post. Thanks **Annie**. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-live-person-ever-ended-up-having-an-autopsy-done-on-them/514476/25 "2009-10-21T04:58:04Z")
These things happen (unintentional spoilers–not so often with the other). Got that missed spoiler. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-live-person-ever-ended-up-having-an-autopsy-done-on-them/514476/26 "2009-10-21T08:20:07Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > Are you leaving out vivisection where a live person is _intentionally_ sliced up? There have been some infamous examples of this including the Japanese Unit 731 during WW2: > > [Unit 731 - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731) (don’t read if you have a weak stomach) I’ve always found the numbers discussed hard to believe because of the nature of it. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-live-person-ever-ended-up-having-an-autopsy-done-on-them/514476/27 "2009-10-21T09:05:40Z")
I know a guy who had a multiple organ transplant. Basically, he had most of his innards replaced. The big scar from that operation sure _looks like_ an autopsy Y (alright, it’s more of a T shape) but they weren’t actually doing an autopsy, just removing most of his organs. Wait, that doesn’t sound quite right… Anyhow, he’s doing much better now. Think I’ll suggest he goes as “autopsy” survivor" for Halloween. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-live-person-ever-ended-up-having-an-autopsy-done-on-them/514476/28 "2009-10-21T12:38:23Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > I always thought, for no particularly good reason I might add, that autopsies started with the draining of the blood out of the body. Nope. Thanks to postmortem lividity (gravity-associated blood pooling in lower portions of the body) and clotting, there’s no gushing of blood associated with doing autopsies, so no need for artificial drainage. Besides, we always start the procedure with a Black Mass. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-live-person-ever-ended-up-having-an-autopsy-done-on-them/514476/29 "2009-10-21T13:37:57Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Thanks to postmortem lividity (gravity-associated blood pooling in lower portions of the body) and clotting, there’s no gushing of blood associated with doing autopsies, so no need for artificial drainage. So if you made an incision and the wound bled, wouldn’t that be kind of a clue to the condition of the patient? I suppose a person who was alive, even if barely, would have \*some \*blood pressure. ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_First_Time)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-live-person-ever-ended-up-having-an-autopsy-done-on-them/514476/30 "2009-10-21T14:00:26Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Is that story plausible? Even back then in the days when the attitude towards human life was more cavalier? I’d recommend the book _Devil in the White City_. It’s about a notorious serial killer who was in Chicago at the time of the World’s Fair. He gave at least one of his victims to a person who took it and returned it as a articulated skeleton - no questions asked. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-live-person-ever-ended-up-having-an-autopsy-done-on-them/514476/31 "2009-10-21T14:12:46Z")
We had a local case where a guy was in a car wreck and pronounced dead at the scene. He woke up at the morgue and had a lot of health problems due to lack of treatment. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-live-person-ever-ended-up-having-an-autopsy-done-on-them/514476/32 "2009-10-21T15:23:21Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > We had a local case where a guy was in a car wreck and pronounced dead at the scene. He woke up at the morgue and had a lot of health problems due to lack of treatment. Local where? IIRC only a doctor can legally pronounce a person dead, and there are rarely doctors at accident scenes. I would be curious to know who signed the death certificate. Was this incident reported in the news? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-live-person-ever-ended-up-having-an-autopsy-done-on-them/514476/33 "2009-10-21T18:23:05Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I know a guy who had a multiple organ transplant. Basically, he had most of his innards replaced. The big scar from that operation sure _looks like_ an autopsy Y (alright, it’s more of a T shape) but they weren’t actually doing an autopsy, just removing most of his organs. Wait, that doesn’t sound quite right… > > Anyhow, he’s doing much better now. Think I’ll suggest he goes as “autopsy” survivor" for Halloween. Sounds good to me, mrAru went to an SCA event as a leper once [lots of suppurations during an 80% of the body attack of poison ivy that the navy gave him calamine lotion to use as a first try … oozy, funky looking beigy patches of crust. Just loosly wrapped him in gauze and gave him a dhoti looking loin cloth, a sort of shawl made of a large swatch of muslin gauze and a begging bowl. He made 31 cents =)] ---
**Author:** ![bagga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@bagga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bagga)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-live-person-ever-ended-up-having-an-autopsy-done-on-them/514476/34 "2009-10-23T17:03:10Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > Yes, I’m sure. > > In countries such as Haiti where voodoo is a predominant religion the use of tetrodotoxin to create zombies (BRAAAAAAAAAAAINS…ahem) I’m sure has resulted in more than one person being prematurely sliced up. > > Tetrodotoxin suppresses the nervous system to the point where a person will appear totally dead - no heart beat, breathing, etc. However, they’re not actually dead - just in a pseudo-coma like state. It’s then possible for the poisoner to rob the grave, give the person a bit of antidote and viola - they have their very own zombie slave to do chores around the house. > > Consult The Serpent & the Rainbow if this seems to far-fetched to be believed. I hate to cite Wiki on you, but: > [@](#): > > It is for this reason that tetrodotoxin has been alleged to be an ingredient in Haitian voodooism and the closest actual manifestation to zombieism in the physical world, an idea that was popularized by Harvard-trained ethnobotanist Wade Davis in a 1983 paper, and in his 1985 book, The Serpent and the Rainbow. However, this idea was dismissed by the scientific community in the 1980s, as the descriptions of voodoo zombies do not match the symptoms displayed by victims of tetrodotoxin poisoning, and the alleged incidents of zombies created in this manner could not be substantiated.[19] Unfortunately, the reference is offline. > **[Tetrodotoxin | History](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrodotoxin#History)** > > The therapeutic uses of puffer fish (tetraodon) eggs were mentioned in the first Chinese pharmacopoeia Pen-T'so Ching (The Book of Herbs, allegedly 2838–2698 BC by Shennong; but a later date is more likely), where they were classified as having "medium" toxicity, but could have a tonic effect when used at the correct dose. The principal use was "to arrest convulsive diseases". In the Pen-T'so Kang Mu (Index Herbacea or The Great Herbal by Li Shih-Chen, 1596) some types of the fish Ho-Tun (the The... ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-live-person-ever-ended-up-having-an-autopsy-done-on-them/514476/35 "2009-10-23T17:21:45Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Local where? > > IIRC only a doctor can legally pronounce a person dead, and there are rarely doctors at accident scenes. I would be curious to know who signed the death certificate. Was this incident reported in the news? There was an incident in either North or South Carolina in which a guy was sent to the morgue after being decalred dead by EMTs. The doctor at the morgue unzipped the body bag to discover the guy alive. I’ll look for a cite. ETA: [Found one.](http://jonathanturley.org/2007/12/29/resurrected-man-sues-north-carolina-medical-officials-for-sending-him-to-morgue-in-mistaken-death-case/) ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-live-person-ever-ended-up-having-an-autopsy-done-on-them/514476/36 "2009-10-23T17:28:55Z")
Rats! Found a [better more detailed](http://publicsafety.com/article/article.jsp?id=1414&siteSection=16) account of what happened. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-live-person-ever-ended-up-having-an-autopsy-done-on-them/514476/37 "2009-10-23T18:21:39Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > In countries such as Haiti where voodoo is a predominant religion the use of tetrodotoxin to create zombies (BRAAAAAAAAAAAINS…ahem) I’m sure has resulted in more than one person being prematurely sliced up. > > Tetrodotoxin suppresses the nervous system to the point where a person will appear totally dead - no heart beat, breathing, etc. However, they’re not actually dead - just in a pseudo-coma like state. It’s then possible for the poisoner to rob the grave, give the person a bit of antidote and viola - they have their very own zombie slave to do chores around the house. > > Consult The Serpent & the Rainbow if this seems to far-fetched to be believed. Why would you need to bury someone for all this to work? Couldn’t you just administer the poison? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-live-person-ever-ended-up-having-an-autopsy-done-on-them/514476.md?page=1)