Learning how to deal with dead bodies
Posted: Monday, August 20, 2007 12:34 PM by Dateline Editor
Filed Under:
Crime, Investigations, Behind The Scenes
By Maia Samuel, Senior Producer
Only one of our team of 10, which included Dateline producers, correspondent and crews, had witnessed an autopsy before. The rest of us were apprehensive, but still coolly confident we could handle what we were about to see. After all, in the course of our careers a few of us had seen dead bodies before. But at the sight of just the blood-splattered autopsy room floor, my knees threatened to buckle. It was going to be a challenging week.
The police I’d talked to suggested I use mentholated vapor rub applied to my top lip to help conceal the smell of the bodies that were being autopsied. It didn’t work. I learned to “stay in the smell” –- if I didn’t leave the autopsy corridor my senses would be overwhelmed and my nose got used to it.
After a couple of days of watching the calm professionalism of the Louisville, Kentucky medical examiners and their staff, we all became more accustomed to the sight, smell and sounds of the autopsies. And we no longer feared the dead. What we couldn’t get used to was the terrible sadness of family members who had lost their loved ones. We felt deeply for them.
'Dead Men Talking' airs on Dateline NBC Monday night, Aug. 20, at 10 p.m. ET.
Several members of the Dateline team reflected on their experience with the Louisville medical examiner's office. Read producer Fred Rothenberg's story about a late night phone call here, and assistant producer Chetna Purohit's story about a tragic fire here.
