# There've been no squcky autopsy threads lately

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 26, 2006, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298 "2006-05-26T10:22:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/61 "2006-05-26T16:15:40Z")

</div>

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

_frantic pounding on the freezer door_

What the hell is wriggling on my nose?!

Lemme out! Lemme out! I’ll haunt you all, I swear to Og! I’ll round you up and Pit the lot of you! I’ll correct your grammar and your spelling and I’ll tell **TubaDiva** you’re being mean!

Guys?

Guys?

Please?

There’ll be a lot of paperwork involved if I die in here.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/62 "2006-05-26T16:16:45Z")

</div>

phew.

Thanks, **Draelin**.

Medusa babies? Cool!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/63 "2006-05-26T16:17:58Z")

</div>

> [@gabriela](#):
>
> Could you help **Ivylass** make the incision? She’s so tentative I almost can’t tell she’s making a cut.
> 
> You can start the cut with the tip of the blade, but after that it’s belly all the way, and I want to see you go deeper than dermis. I want to see subcutaneous fat! I want to see all the way down to muscle! I want to see the pectoralis major divided and I want to see that scalpel nick rib!
> 
> Drop and give me fifty, maggot!
> 
> Uh, sorry, not you. I was talking to the maggots over in the big shiny freezer drawers where we keep the decomposed unidentified bodies. I think maybe that’s why **WhyNot** went down; she just wants us to think it was a bloody rag underfoot.
> 
> Oh, and **TWeirdO** : when you get past the chest to the abdomen, don’t cut quite so hard and deep, because if you do you’ll -

_salutes sharply_ Oo, this is a rather larger blade than the Xacto knives I use for art projects. Okay, deep cut, deep cut, less deep cut, circle left, less deep cut. Did I do okay?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/64 "2006-05-26T16:19:14Z")

</div>

Oops. I’ll clean that up. Where are the paper towels?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/65 "2006-05-26T16:20:35Z")

</div>

I’m back with lunch!

Ok, who got the egg salad? **WhyNot**? Ok, just toss it in the drawer there, it’ll stay cold.

Oh man, what is that smell? It’s just like somebody contaminated the peritoneal cavity with shit.\* That’s nasty…

Who had the pastrami? Any one? Oh that’s mine.

- I learned that watching Quincy, he said that to Sam once. :eek:

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gabriela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@gabriela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gabriela)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/66 "2006-05-26T16:24:59Z")

</div>

You are all the most helpful autopsy assistants I’ve ever had. Particularly the egg salad and the loads of scalpels. **The Weird One** , even if you nicked the transverse colon, that was the best first incision I’ve ever seen a newbie do. You sure you’ve never done this before? Because if you really haven’t, you’ve got … talent.

Talk to **Winston Smith** about opportunities in the, er, field.

Of course, it wasn’t completely your incision; **Ivylass** started it, but she seems to have hightailed it off into the corner, all because of a little blood. Well, fine. She specifically said she didn’t want to dig her hands into anything icky. Removing the bowel means digging your hands into something icky. **T-W-O** , if you are allowed gloves, are you up for it?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gabriela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@gabriela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gabriela)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/67 "2006-05-26T16:28:26Z")

</div>

> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> [SIZE=5]Lemme out! Lemme out! I’ll haunt you all, I swear to Og! I’ll round you up and Pit the lot of you! I’ll correct your grammar and your spelling and I’ll tell **TubaDiva** you’re being mean! … There’ll be a lot of paperwork involved if I die in here.

Stop making me laugh! I can’t do a proper autopsy when I’m laughing!!!

By the way, your little experience with the, er, wriggling things reminds me of part of my early hazing on the job. I was expressing deep disgust with a case full of wriggling maggots waiting on my table for me to autopsy it when one of the New York City techs said, “What’s your problem, doc?”

I said “I don’t - like - maggots.”

He: “Maggots are good!”

Me: “What - makes you - (eww) say - that?”

He: “Maggots don’t want to go home with you. Wait till you meet lice.”

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/68 "2006-05-26T16:31:33Z")

</div>

Did a cloud of poisonous spores foof out of the abdomen? No? Silly TV shows!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/69 "2006-05-26T16:38:34Z")

</div>

> [@gabriela](#):
>
> You are all the most helpful autopsy assistants I’ve ever had. Particularly the egg salad and the loads of scalpels. **The Weird One** , even if you nicked the transverse colon, that was the best first incision I’ve ever seen a newbie do. You sure you’ve never done this before? Because if you really haven’t, you’ve got … talent.

Well, I said I always enjoyed dissections, didn’t I? _peering into the cut_ Huh, I’ve only seen subcutaneous fat once before. I think. What’s “subcutaneous?”

> [@](#):
>
> Of course, it wasn’t completely your incision; **Ivylass** started it, but she seems to have hightailed it off into the corner, all because of a little blood. Well, fine. She specifically said she didn’t want to dig her hands into anything icky. Removing the bowel means digging your hands into something icky. **T-W-O** , if you are allowed gloves, are you up for it?

Hmm, okay. I’ve always wondered how sausage was made! BTW, if you _don’t_ want help from someone who’s constantly making inappropriate jokes, you should probably have one of these other guys be your assistant.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/70 "2006-05-26T16:40:43Z")

</div>

> [@The Weird One](#):
>
> Well, I said I always enjoyed dissections, didn’t I? _peering into the cut_ Huh, I’ve only seen subcutaneous fat once before. I think. What’s “subcutaneous?”.

Ooh! Ooh! I know this one!! _Subcutaneous_ means under the sink. I mean _skin_.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gabriela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@gabriela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gabriela)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/71 "2006-05-26T16:43:14Z")

</div>

> [@The Weird One](#):
>
> Well, I said I always enjoyed dissections, didn’t I? _peering into the cut_ Huh, I’ve only seen subcutaneous fat once before. I think. What’s “subcutaneous?”

Under the skin. As in “I’ve got you/Subcutaneous…”

> [@The Weird One](#):
>
> Hmm, okay. I’ve always wondered how sausage was made! BTW, if you _don’t_ want help from someone who’s constantly making inappropriate jokes, you should probably have one of these other guys be your assistant.

There is no one on the Dope who will not crack me up at any inappropriate moment. It’s like hiring your forensic people out of a pool inhabited only by Marx Brothers.

Grab a fold of the bowel and double it in half. See that apron of fat it’s hanging off of? Stick the scalpel through it. Now follow me as I illustrate - tug, see, just like this - the small bowel is going to run right off the mesentery, and we should get the whole small bowel taken down in five minutes.

Lissa, would you like to find the appendix? It’ll be in the right lower quadrant behind the big balloony part of the large bowel (the cecum), just where the small bowel meets the large bowel.

If you find it, hold it up and show me how much like a fishin’ worm it looks, then clip it off with a scalpel and throw it into the waiting formaldehyde jar marked “Save”.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gabriela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@gabriela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gabriela)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/72 "2006-05-26T16:45:04Z")

</div>

> [@gigi](#):
>
> Did a cloud of poisonous spores foof out of the abdomen? No? Silly TV shows!

Gigi, you got a serious fantasy problem fed by classic television, you know that?

I say this, me, who am performing a virtual autopsy surrounded by Marx Brothers on a bulletin board.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/73 "2006-05-26T16:45:09Z")

</div>

> [@Draelin](#):
>
> Ooh! Ooh! I know this one!! _Subcutaneous_ means under the sink. I mean _skin_.

Ah, then I _have_ seen it before. I got a bad cut in my hand, and while waiting for the nurse to stitch me up, I got curious and looked inside. I was surprised how much fat there was in my hand.

So why specify subcutaneous fat? Does anyone have fat that’s _not_ stored under the skin? And what would that be called? Supercutaneous?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gabriela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@gabriela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gabriela)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/74 "2006-05-26T16:47:11Z")

</div>

> [@Draelin](#):
>
> Ooh! Ooh! I know this one!! _Subcutaneous_ means under the sink. I mean _skin_.

**Draelin** , you’ve just earned so many brownie points that I nominate you to do the next squcky thing of your choice. What would you prefer: open the ribs to reveal the heart, start on the scalp incision to get to the brain, or get a syringe and aspirate the vitreous humor out of **indecisive1** ’s eyes?

(I hope she’s really dead)

Well, if she wasn’t when we started, the point should be moot soon.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/75 "2006-05-26T16:47:43Z")

</div>

_tugging on bowels_ A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes a Y incision! Wow, there’s a lot of this. Where should I put it?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gabriela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@gabriela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gabriela)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/76 "2006-05-26T16:49:43Z")

</div>

> [@The Weird One](#):
>
> Ah, then I _have_ seen it before. I got a bad cut in my hand, and while waiting for the nurse to stitch me up, I got curious and looked inside. I was surprised how much fat there was in my hand.
> 
> So why specify subcutaneous fat? Does anyone have fat that’s _not_ stored under the skin? And what would that be called? Supercutaneous?

**The Weird One! The Weird One!** _Look_ in front of your eyes! Here we are inside the abdominal cavity, and even though indecisive1 is, er, was a pleasingly svelte woman prior to autopsy, do you _see_ all this fat!

This is perivisceral or intra-abdominal fat, the stuff which when in excess is associated with the deleterious consequences of morbid obesity. I can roll out phrases like “the deleterious consequences of morbid obesity” with loquacity and eloquence because I is a doctor. You practice while you hack out some of this non-subcutaneous fat.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/77 "2006-05-26T16:50:33Z")

</div>

> [@gabriela](#):
>
> **Draelin** , you’ve just earned so many brownie points that I nominate you to do the next squcky thing of your choice. What would you prefer: open the ribs to reveal the heart, start on the scalp incision to get to the brain, or get a syringe and aspirate the vitreous humor out of **indecisive1** ’s eyes?

I feel like I just won the Miss America Pagent, only grosser!! I’ll do the scalp incision. Do I get to take her face off? 'Cause that’d be cool. If not, I’d be happy to just take off the top of her head. Can I keep her hair?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/78 "2006-05-26T16:50:54Z")

</div>

Whee, time to go home! Have fun finishing the autopsy without me!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gabriela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@gabriela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gabriela)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/79 "2006-05-26T16:51:05Z")

</div>

> [@The Weird One](#):
>
> _tugging on bowels_ A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes a Y incision! Wow, there’s a lot of this. Where should I put it?

In the kick bucket. It’s the large steel bucket on the floor with the clear plastic liner.

My husband, who is NOT a doctor, delights in the name “the kick bucket” because it is the only item in the morgue the official name of which combines the words “kick” and “bucket”.

Kick it over here, will you?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gabriela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@gabriela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gabriela)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298/80 "2006-05-26T16:52:53Z")

</div>

> [@Draelin](#):
>
> I feel like I just won the Miss America Pagent, only grosser!! I’ll do the scalp incision. Do I get to take her face off? 'Cause that’d be cool. If not, I’d be happy to just take off the top of her head. Can I keep her hair?

Silly. We leave her her scalp and her hair for the open-casket funeral. All we do is start behind the left ear, go up over the top of her head slightly behind the centerline, and end up behind the right ear. Keep it close to the attachment of the ear so nobody at the funeral will be able to see the cut.

Since The Weird One had to leave, I’ll open the chest cavity. Dear me, I do hope that heart isn’t still beating. It would squck me out if it was still beating.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298.md?page=3)

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thereve-been-no-squcky-autopsy-threads-lately/358298.md?page=5)
