The last journey Photo excursion to the morgue (79 photos)

A few days ago I had the opportunity to visit an ordinary morgue. It would seem, what’s wrong with this? Well, the morgue, well, we’ll all be there. The point is that without being a mortuary employee or his comrade, “outsiders” have no special opportunity to inspect, much less photograph, all the premises. Relatives of the deceased visit only the farewell hall and a couple of other rooms ready to receive them, medical students visit the auditorium and sometimes the sectional room. In the review below the cut, I suggest you familiarize yourself with how the true last journey occurs - the journey of the body from the moment of death to the moment the coffin with the body is handed over to relatives for further burial/sending to the crematorium. The review is illustrated, but is as ethical as possible. There is only one corpse in the photographs, and that one with a bag on his head.

It all starts with the fact that a person dies.
This can happen at home, or outside the home, or even in the hospital.
Death can be discovered immediately - by those around or close to you, or maybe after a different amount of time, which affects the form in which the corpse is delivered to the morgue.

In case of “suspicion of death,” an ambulance is called, with which the police also arrive. The doctor pronounces death and the body is taken to the morgue.
If the death occurred in a hospital, the police do not seem to be needed.

1. And so, they bring him here...

2. A door with a sign “reception of bodies”, a forgotten gurney, and then immediately - coffins

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5. The morgue consists of two floors and a basement. The first refrigeration chamber is turned off due to lack of need for it (the second one, in the basement, is enough)

6. Then there is a table on which the body is washed if necessary. Please note - the table is granite. According to the orderly, such tables (Russian, stone) are much more convenient than more modern iron (imported) ones - they do not rattle and are easier to clean. These are the tables that are used in the morgue, which appeared on the Internet some time ago with the label “Prison Morgue” (although in fact this is one of the Moscow morgues at the time of the influx of clients) - the remains of the photos can be found on Google.

7. Then the measurement takes place (height is measured to determine the size of the coffin: the coffin must be 20 cm longer than the body) and registration. Here the emergency doctor hands over the body and the necessary documents to the orderly on duty. At this moment, the person finally ceases to be a person, and instead of his full name, he is assigned a number, which is written on a tag and tied to his wrist (a more common option is to his toe).

8. The orderlies who work here in daily shifts and regularly touch all sorts of things are required to wash their hands frequently and wash themselves completely. For this purpose, the morgue is full of sinks, showers and changing rooms.

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11. By the way, the morgue also has the Internet and Wi-Fi (in a hospital where patients are alive, this benefit is not provided)

12. The registry is needed more by relatives - after all, this is where the services provided by the morgue are processed, a death certificate is issued, etc.

13. A person can die suddenly or after a long illness. Having been observed by various doctors and having appropriate entries in their medical histories (medical records at the place of treatment), citizens, after being delivered to the morgue, are sent to the dressing room, where orderlies bring them into proper shape using simple cosmetics

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16. The range of morgue services also includes the sale of coffins and accessories, organization of farewells, funeral services and the provision of funeral transport.

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18. Coffins, wreaths, etc. are displayed in the sales hall

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21. And also in the corridor of the first floor

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23. And for some reason in the toilet

24. The coffin on the right is Muslim

25. The cat on the “roof” of the Muslim coffin is not included in the set. By the way, there are four cats here - a cat and three cats. They are kept to control the absence of rodents, which tend to eat bodies.

26. In addition to length (from 160 to 210), coffins differ in width. For obese citizens there is a standard coffin called a “deck”

For those who are completely non-standard, the option of making a coffin to order is possible.

27. If a person’s death was not so predictable, his body is sent for an autopsy. The autopsy takes place in rooms called “sectional rooms.” The sectional ones look like this (the explosive metal tables are right here)

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30. Opening tools

31. Another sectional, with its own tools

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34. Hard lining-pillow under the head - numerous marks from the tool

35. During the autopsy, the necessary samples, tests, samples are taken from the corpse

36. These samples are sent for research to laboratories located on the second floor

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39. The duty officer's place is on the second floor

40. Forensic experts have not been here for a long time, all that is left of them is an empty room

41. But there are many laboratories

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43. We look into several of them - a lot of equipment, understandable and not completely

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46. Next laboratory

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49. Just a jungle

50. And one more lab

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52. And one more thing!

53. This unit is alive. It beeps and moves regularly, the lid rises, the drum with cans makes some movements

54. The archive is filled in real time

55. On the second floor there is also an archive, in a more familiar form

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57. And this is what thin colored sections of organs look like, which are examined to determine the causes of death

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59. Research Answers

60. There is also an auditorium where students come

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62. Although there are only two floors and a basement, there is an elevator, because it is inconvenient to move up the stairs with a wheelchair. The elevator connects the first floor and the basement, and the second floor houses its engine room.

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65. There is also a ventilation room

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67. Rest room for orderlies

68. And the canteen where morgue workers have lunch

69. The morgue also has a roof - in good weather you can hang out on it, set off fireworks, etc., but in winter there is knee-deep snow on it

70. Basement of the morgue. First of all, in the basement there is another sectional and the main refrigerator

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72. A bag is put on the head of a corpse so that the face does not dry out

73. Three cats live in the basement (two in the frame, the third ran away ahead of time)

74. There is an unused hyperbaric chamber-on-wheels, where nurses go out to smoke

75. And old medical records of long-dead and buried citizens

76. Underground tunnels connecting all hospital buildings converge to the basement of the morgue

77. But “climbing” on them is not recommended - there are cameras in some places

78. After all the procedures for autopsy, make-up, dressing, etc., traditionally on the third day the body in a coffin is given to relatives - from this veranda, where artificial flowers covered with snow stand forlornly

79. Well, what can I say in conclusion? Based on the results of my communication with the orderly working there, working there is not scary at all, interesting in places, but mostly mundane. And let's cross our fingers that you and your loved ones will not soon find yourself in this or a similar establishment

Thank you for attention! I hope it was interesting and not too disgusting.