The Morgue

During the tour of the various areas of the hospital I'd need to know, I had been told by the girl who trained me, "Here's the morgue. But I've been here several months and never had to go there, so you probably won't either." Famous last words.

Today was my very first day on my own doing Direct Patient Care (DPC). And what do you know: I was recruited to help a nurse tech (NT) bring a body to the morgue. I had learned a patient died overnight on the floor. Sadly, the woman had had cancer and was only in her early 50s.

I helped the NT bring up a gurney to transport the body later down to the morgue. She seemed very nonchalant about the whole thing. "Happens all the time. I've done this many, many times". Of course. It's a hospital after all. All I could think was, "Please don't tell me I have to help prepare the body to put on the gurney". Thankfully, I was let go of my duties while the NTs readied the body.

I was called shortly later and met the same NT with the body on the gurney, covered with several sheets. A familiar outline profile indicated what lay underneath. This was the closest I'd come to a dead body. I once attended a wake of a former co-worker's husband, but only walked by and peered quickly. It was an eerie feeling. Now, here I was with a body that had been tagged and bagged on its way to the morgue until the family's funeral home came to claim it. I took a deep breath and prayed we wouldn't hit a bump and the body roll off the gurney. It was unlikely due to the raised side bars, but it still made me nervous. The NT explained how it was best to get the body prepared and down to the morgue as soon as possible. Rigor mortis sets in after a few hours and it would be more difficult to move the body at that time.

When I started on this career change, many people asked if I could handle dealing with blood and poo and all those other unpleasant aspects of medical care. Honestly, I didn't know. I still don't know and won't know until faced with it. But here I was, confronted with one of those moments. A moment that could make someone turn and flee. Oddly, I was nervous but excited at the same time. Excited that this was something new, a test of my wills, and well, quite frankly, something not everyone has had the experience of doing. How many people can respond to the question, "How was your weekend?" with, "Oh, I helped bring a body to the morgue"? Don't get me wrong; I'm not trying to make light of a serious issue. At the same time, you have to be able to detach enough to get the job done. I felt a bit of relief knowing that I got through this task without being turned off.

The morgue is on the basement level. I expected a large room with a wall of individual stainless steel pods like you see in those crime tv series. Knocking on the door of the entry, a security guy who sits in a small cold room opened the door. Next to his desk was the door to the morgue. After accepting the papers the NT brought with her, he opened the morgue door to a room maybe 15' x 15'. It was tiny, compared to what I imagined. Inside, there were already 3-4 other bodies. The security guy helped us wheel the gurney up a slight incline and we left the body in place. As I turned, I caught sight of a bare foot sticking out from one of the other gurneys.