Brick Wall

I just checked my email. I got a response from the medical examiner in Burlington county. Apparently, their policy is that in order to see an autopsy, you have to be 18 and be a college student. So that's really frustrating. But I'll send my email out to other medical examiners in our area, and to some hospitals/schools in Philly. Repasy has a friend that takes her anatomy students to the Thomas Jefferson anatomy lab. They go on a tour and I think they listen to a lecture. If I can't find a medical examiner that will allow high school students to view an autopsy, maybe I'll have to head in a different direction.

Final Email

I'm meeting with Repasy tomorrow so she can look over this and make any changes.

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Antonia Santarsiero, and I'm an Anatomy and Physiology student at Northern Burlington High School. For the second semester of my senior year, I got the idea to try to start an annual trip for students to see a human autopsy. After searching local medical examiner's offices, I was excited to find that the office in Westampton is only one town over from my school district.
I feel that watching an autopsy in person would greatly benefit the students at my school, especially those who are planning on going into the medical field. It's so much more informative to see an autopsy being performed with one's own eyes, rather than hearing about it from one's teacher or looking at pictures in a textbook. I've already surveyed 46 seniors from my school, and 54% said they would definitely go on a trip to see an autopsy. A large majority of respondents said they think the trip would be extremely educational and informative. I would love to be able to create a new opportunity for students at my school that will benefit them in so many ways.
I would be so grateful if your office allowed my school to view an autopsy at your facility. Please contact me at your earliest convenience at aksantarsiero@gmail.com.

Sincerely,
Antonia Santarsiero

Survey Results

I got 47 responses to my survey that I sent out over Facebook. That was more than I expected, so that's good. The number of people that are interested in going really surprised me: 53.19% said yes, and 21.28% said maybe. What also surprised me was the gender of the people that want to go on the trip. I expected the majority of "yes" answers to be from boys, since I think of girls as being more grossed out by autopsies and death in general. But 80% of the people that answered "yes"  and 70% that said "maybe" were female. 58.33% that answered" no" were male.
When asked how they thought this trip would benefit students, 34 out of 36 respondents said it would help students that are interested in the medical field. The majority of people said that the trip seemed very interesting, fun, and informative. Even those who weren't interested in going said they thought the trip was a good idea for those who are interested in anatomy.
I'm really happy with the results that I got. If I am able to set up a trip, there will definitely be a lot of people that would want to go.

Letter to Medical Examiner

I finally started writing a rough draft for my letter to the Westampton medical examiner's office. It's not finished yet, but it's good to get another blog entry in. I want to have my mom and Repasy look over it before I email it to the medical examiner.


To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Antonia Santarsiero, and I'm an Anatomy and Physiology student at Northern Burlington High School. For the second semester of my senior year, I got the idea to try to start an annual trip for students to see a human autopsy. After searching local medical examiner's offices, I was excited to find that the office in Westampton is only one town over from my school district.
I feel like watching an autopsy in person would greatly benefit the students at my school, especially those who are planning on going into the medical field. It's so much more informative to see an autopsy being performed with one's own eyes, rather than hearing about it from one's teacher or looking at pictures in a textbook. I've already surveyed 46 seniors from my school, and 54% said they would definitely go on a trip to see an autopsy. A large majority of respondents said they think the trip would be extremely educational and informative. I would love to be able to create a new opportunity for students at my school that will benefit them in so many ways.
I would be so grateful if your office allowed my school to view an autopsy at your facility.

Shtino gave me the link to an article about different religions' views on death and autopsies. It's interesting to read about the different ways people interpret death, even people within the same religion. Most of the religions that normally oppose autopsies are okay with them, if it's for legal reasons. Judaism believes that if an action will save a life somewhere in the world, it should be done, even if it goes against Jewish beliefs.
Buddhists believe that death is a part of life and shouldn't be feared; they believe that dead bodies should be treated with respect, so the soul can achieve enlightenment. Because autopsies benefit the medical community and can bring criminals to justice, Buddhists are okay with autopsies, as long as they're done after the body is left alone for three days. Christians are also supportive of autopsies, since they see it as an act of charity to perform an autopsy to help others.
Before I started this project, religious views never occured to me as a reason to oppose autopsies. Since I'm not religious myself, I never thought about how religions might impact peoples' feelings towards the treatment of a body after death. I just think of bodies as inanimate objects without any souls or feelings; after death, there's nothing left but the body.

Today in anatomy, we watched a video of a human dissection of the digestive system. It was done by Gunther van Hagens, the anatomist that created Body Worlds. It was really cool to get a taste of what I'll be seeing when I organize an autopsy trip. A surprising number of people in my class watched the whole thing and weren't too freaked out about it. I guess that's good news for my project.
I've watched a couple of autopsy videos online this past week. One thing that surprised me was how quickly the medical examiners worked. It seemed almost careless how they would make the incisions and pull back the skin. I expected them to take more time and be careful about accidentally cutting something they shouldn't, but I guess when the patient is dead, they don't have to worry about that.

Out of boredom I looked up the Body Worlds exhibit today.I really wish the exhibit came to our area this year. I don't think people are as grossed out by that as they are by autopsies. Maybe if we were able to see Body Worlds instead, more people would go.

I didn't get anything done last night because I was so tired. Oh well. I'm definitely going to cotnact the medical examiner's office by the end of the week.

There's really not much that I have going on with my project now. The next thing I have to do is write an email to the medical examiner's office and introduce my idea. Shtino also said he'll get me in contact with his brother, who watches a lot of medical procedures since he works for a company that makes medical equipment. I could talk to him to get a better idea about what goes on in surgeries/autopsies.

I came home today covered in sawdust. I stayed after musical practice to help build the set with Tyler and Hirsch (the musical set is Tyler's srs project). I don't know how I'll be able to handle staying late for practice and set construction while trying to work on my own project.
As per Repasy's advice, I looked up the local medical examiner. The office for Burlington county is in Westampton, which isn't too far from here. I looked up instances of high schoolers going to see an autopsy in person, and it's clear that it's been done before. I don't think it'll be a problem, but I'll have to contact the medical examiner's office to make sure.
I also made a survey that I posted to the class of 2013 Facebook page. Hopefully I can meet with Repasy tomorrow to talk about this some more.
Link to my survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XG6DTBG