Ethics and Evolution of Medical Specimens | 10min snip from Specimens

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Cat Irving - Human Remains Conservator

Specimens

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notes

CHAPTER

Ethics and Evolution of Medical Specimens

This chapter examines the historical acquisition of human remains for medical study, focusing on the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. It discusses the shift in legal and ethical practices surrounding body donation, illustrating changes from grave robbing to contemporary ethical guidelines under the Human Tissue Act.

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Love science and conservation? Want to discover new ways to protect our species? Elle Kaye chats with guests who work within the science genre, but whose job titles may need a little unpacking. Strap in for entomology, taxidermy, diaphonization, pet remains, human pathology and all those that work with specimens.

TW: Death/Dying and Human Remains

In episode 030 Elle chats with Cat about her work caring for anatomical and pathological museum collections for nearly twenty years. She discusses the transition between working in Edinburgh City Mortuary and moving to England to further train in wet tissue collections to returning to Scotland to work with pathology specimens in Surgeons’ Hall in Edinburgh. We also discuss shifts in perceptions around death and dying, and what that has meant for Cat.

Cat Socials

https://thesewanderingbones.wordpress.com/contents/

https://twitter.com/AnatomicalCat

https://www.instagram.com/anatomicalcat/

Surgeons Hall

https://museum.rcsed.ac.uk/

Hunterian Museum Glasgow

https://www.gla.ac.uk/hunterian/

Alder Hay Scandal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alder_Hey_organs_scandal

Authors Cat Mentions

Ian Rankin - https://www.ianrankin.net/