# In a hospital, how are dead bodies moved from the room to the morgue? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 27, 2014, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354 "2014-05-27T05:58:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**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:** [June 8, 2014, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/81 "2014-06-08T17:17:52Z")
In one of the hospitals where I work, deceased patients are transported to the morgue in a big black coffin as part of a Dixieland jazz procession. Everyone gets a big kick out of it. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/82 "2014-06-08T17:30:33Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > In the old days, it was a popular belief (possibly not entirely untrue) that patients in wards, who were likely to die, got mover nearer the doors. I think that’s what happened with my dad. He was in a nursing home for several years, and there was a room called the “Federation Room” or somesuch. It was a type of lounge designed for visitors to wait in, if the patient was being toileted or showered or something. It also had a separate entrance (which I didn’t take much note of at the time). When dad was on the way out, this room became what they apparently call the “Departure Lounge”, and his bed was wheeled in there. When he died, the internal door was closed, and the undertaker just came in his van and quietly whisked dad away through that outside entrance. The other patients would never have been any the wiser. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/83 "2014-06-08T19:59:37Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > In one of the hospitals where I work, deceased patients are transported to the morgue in a big black coffin as part of a Dixieland jazz procession. Everyone gets a big kick out of it. I love it! 😃 I’m also really enjoying the stories of people meeting over bodies. The Dope is so great. I have gotten a lot of good info here and read some really funny stories. **Leo** , your story wasn’t one of the funny ones. Dang, I’m sorry that happened. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/84 "2014-06-08T20:02:23Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Or a deranged widow’s compelling interest to sue you–meaning me–after your best friend kills himself, said widow requesting to not have the autopsy, me bringing the document to the morgue, request granted by the State, and said widow later deciding that it was all Prozac’s fault and wanting to sue Pfizer, but unable to so without evidence of Prozac level from corpse which was claimed would’ve been available from autopsy, and that I falsely obtained permission from her. And it came to trial. > > Not a fun time, at all. Orthodox, was she? Or raised Orthodox? ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/85 "2014-06-08T20:43:37Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > I think that’s what happened with my dad. He was in a nursing home for several years, and there was a room called the “Federation Room” or somesuch. It was a type of lounge designed for visitors to wait in, if the patient was being toileted or showered or something. It also had a separate entrance (which I didn’t take much note of at the time). > > When dad was on the way out, this room became what they apparently call the “Departure Lounge”, and his bed was wheeled in there. When he died, the internal door was closed, and the undertaker just came in his van and quietly whisked dad away through that outside entrance. The other patients would never have been any the wiser. Except for the fact the person in that room was never seen again. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/86 "2014-06-08T20:46:46Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > I think that’s what happened with my dad. He was in a nursing home for several years, and there was a room called the “Federation Room” or somesuch. It was a type of lounge designed for visitors to wait in, if the patient was being toileted or showered or something. It also had a separate entrance (which I didn’t take much note of at the time). > > When dad was on the way out, this room became what they apparently call the “Departure Lounge”, and his bed was wheeled in there. When he died, the internal door was closed, and the undertaker just came in his van and quietly whisked dad away through that outside entrance. The other patients would never have been any the wiser. Except for the fact, the person in that room was never seen again. Most nursing homes have an unofficial death room. It gives the family privacy and spares the staff from answering awkward questions. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/87 "2014-06-09T03:11:32Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > In one of the hospitals where I work, deceased patients are transported to the morgue in a big black coffin as part of a Dixieland jazz procession. Everyone gets a big kick out of it. I hope they dress him in a box-back coat and put a $20 gold piece on his watch chain so the boys’ll know he died standin’ pat. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/88 "2014-06-09T22:34:36Z")
The death erections make this thread worth reading, for me. Carry on. ---
**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:** [June 10, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/89 "2014-06-10T02:41:29Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Someday I’m going to write a horror novel called “Ward 13” :eek: [Ward 81](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wabWguqwr0) is a bigger freakout. ---
**Author:** ![jezzaOZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@jezzaOZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jezzaOZ)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2014, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/90 "2014-06-13T10:58:19Z")
The story about the stiff with a stiffy is apocryphal. John Dillinger was reported to be well-hung and erect at death see [Dillinger Erection](http://message.snopes.com/risque/graphics/dilling.jpg) Sadly for all concerned the bulge was his arm as a result of rigor mortis. However, I have heard that hanged men often have an erection. Whether it’s a result of somthing like auto-asphyxiation, or a strange reaction to imminent death, or somthing boring like blood pooling I don’t know. Maybe a question for Cecil? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2014, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/91 "2014-06-14T04:40:43Z")
I once dated a medical student who told me of a well-hung cadaver the students were practicing on, and the poor stiff _heh_ had died with a raging hard-on. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2014, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/92 "2014-06-14T09:49:23Z")
He was kidding you. Even if somebody did die with an erection, by the time a corpse gets to medical school dissecting room it has long been drained of blood. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/93 "2014-06-15T02:40:23Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > He was kidding you. Even if somebody did die with an erection, by the time a corpse gets to medical school dissecting room it has long been drained of blood. That was a she. Not being gay (not that there’s anything wrong with that), I only ever dated women. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/94 "2014-06-27T01:30:15Z")
Recent observations. In one hospital, the body is placed (I do not know if it was wrapped or sheeted) in a heavy canvas body bag which is placed on a regular hospital bed, and a spry elderly Chasidic man accompanied by a hospital Security officer hot foots it down a side corridor to an elevator. Security accompaniment is mandatory, to “ask people to step aside” from the elevator or to clear a path. In another, the body is wrapped in a sheet, placed on a gurney. Over the body is a large rectangle simple frame with two cross-ribs, which are barely visible underneath a thick white plastic removable tarpaulin drawn over it and the body underneath. It looks like nothing else you see, sort of a coffin but double high (the top is about high chest level) and slightly wider at the foot, so the whole thing looks sort of whatever-hospital-stuff/delivery when pushed by a kindly orderly through the public corridors down and up from basement bedside, up staff-only elevator, loop-de-loop through staff classrooms as well as public clinics, back down to morgue on basement level in other building. I’d been wanting to add the first observation, and get Opalescent with other questions of interest and answerable by the experts here, perhaps, with a new OP–“Ask the non-religious Jew who overnight arranged an ultra-Orthodox funeral”–for about 10 days. With difficulty–for I craved my virtual friends here–I waited for the end of Shiva–that funeral was for my wife’s mother–which ended on Sunday, when my Mother had a cerebral hemorrhage. The second observation comes from Tuesday morning, when I followed her body. Some fucking week, huh? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/95 "2014-06-27T01:39:22Z")
Holy crap, **Leo Bloom** , that sucks! I’m so sorry, man… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/96 "2014-06-27T02:33:39Z")
Holy Hanna, Leo! Quite a week indeed, I’m so sorry for all of the loss you’re experiencing. My heart goes out to you and your families. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/97 "2014-06-27T15:38:51Z")
> [@jabiru](#): > > We have a mortuary at the hospital where I work and a deceased child can either go down on the bed or cot he/she was in or the parents sometimes ask to carry their child themselves. This is heartbreakingly sad. ☹ But I do understand the parents wanting to do this. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2014, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/98 "2014-06-28T03:15:18Z")
**Leo** , I’m so sorry for your loss, and the pain. When you are ready to post your “Ask the non-religious Jew who overnight arranged an ultra-Orthodox funeral” thread, I will read it with much interest. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/99 "2014-06-30T10:34:04Z")
Wow, sorry to hear that, Leo. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2014, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354/100 "2014-06-30T12:12:39Z")
Thanks to all. I was debating bumping the thread to say so. Mrs. Bloom was set to to write thank-yous to all who sent condolence cards, and I told her she didn’t have to and it was weird. But as usual I practice what I don’t preach. I’m back in the SD thanks to chimps mastering fire. (If this thread zombies I will have no idea what this means.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-hospital-how-are-dead-bodies-moved-from-the-room-to-the-morgue/689354.md?page=6)