# I saw my first dead body today. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 16, 2009, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-dead-body-today/493269 "2009-04-16T05:48:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-dead-body-today/493269/41 "2009-04-20T14:18:10Z")
> [@Hirundo82](#): > > I’m a former EMT and current medical student, so I’ve seen lots of dead bodies. > > The first dead body you see on the job is always memorable–I still remember the name of the first code I worked a decade ago. After that, you quickly become used to it. > > Dead kids still bother me. I’ve worked about half a dozen pediatric codes, mostly SIDS deaths plus a drowning and a car accident, and they haven’t gotten any easier for me. The first actual death I witnessed was my mother, from cancer. Until that happened, all of the bodies I’d seen were already enbalmed. I don’t remember any names of my codes, but I’ve never been good with names. I do remember most of the cases and faces, however. No kids yet; I haven’t had to deal with a ripe one, either. My career as an EMT is still young. ---
**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:** [April 20, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-dead-body-today/493269/42 "2009-04-20T14:26:20Z")
My great-grandmother. I was 4 or 5, mom took me up to the casket to “say goodbye” and made me _kiss her forehead_ :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:. Twenty years later I still remember _exactly_ how cold she felt. I find open casket funeral disgusting, yet they’re the norm where I live. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-dead-body-today/493269/43 "2009-04-20T19:37:30Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I’m surprised at how old some of you seem to be when you see your first dead body. Although it wasn’t until I became a cop that I saw one in the wild, I was 9 when I went to my grandfather’s funeral. No open casket wakes where you guys are? I have a very small family, and attend a church where memorial services with no casket, open or otherwise, are the norm. I always thought I was in the minority, not having been to a funeral with an open casket. It seems likely to me that most of my friends had been to viewings/wakes with open caskets by the time we were in high school. Apparently if anyone on my husband’s side of the family passes away I should expect an open casket. I’m happy to say that since we’ve been married we haven’t lost anyone, except very recently an uncle whose wife chose not to have any type of service. My husband has encountered 2 dead bodies “in the wild.” The first was in an alley that was a shortcut for him to work. He never did find out the circumstances. He did say that the second the smell hit his nostrils he knew instinctively he was near a dead person, even though he’d never seen one before. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-my-first-dead-body-today/493269.md?page=2)