The Cadaver 《Completed》

The Cadaver

I am a senior doctor at one of the prestigious Medical Institutions of the city. I have had taught several batches of students and dissected numerous cadavers since the period of my own education.

But a certain case has been engraved on my mind such that it would haunt me for ever.

I lead a batch of MBBS students towards a cadaver to dissect. It was a fresh (undissected) body and was lying unidentified and unclaimed for more than a month in the mortuary of our hospital. Finally, it was handed over to us for studies.

"Please settle down soon and let the shorter people be in front. We are going to learn a very important topic today and I don't want anyone to miss out any detail.", I said.

They all shuffled a bit and the shorter students came nearer to the dissection table.

When I noticed that everyone was set, I began, "Okay. So, first of all, we are going to remove the skin from this part..." "No! Wait!", a girl shouted from beside me. We were all startled at her sudden outburst. One of the girls struggled her way to the front and stood beside the cadaver, near its head.

"No! D-don't touch him. Please.. Please, don't touch him.", she said between sobs.

She took one of the cadaver's hands in one of her own and touched its face with the other tenderly. We all were surprised at her gesture.

"What's wrong with you Alina?", I asked.

"Sir! This.. He is my husband.", she blurted.

*Silence* A deadly silence fell in the room.

"Sir Please don't let anyone touch him. I want to take him home and give him a proper funeral. Please, sir, please.", She begged.

"What do you mean he's your husband? This body has been lying in the mortuary for almost 2 months. If he was your relative, why didn't anyone search for him? We checked up in all the police stations to find if there is any missing r0eport in this duration. There was none.", I explained.

"He's been missing for 5 years, sir. We had lodged a complaint in the police station of my native city. You can check it out. I will give you the details.", she told me while guarding the body like it was her child.

"Still, I insist. There must be a mistake.", I said.

"There's no way I won't recognise my husband, with whome I lived for 10 years.", she screamed.

"Umm okay. This is serious. Guys! Everyone please go back to your classroom and we will continue this lesson some other day. Alina, you please drink some water and cakm down. I will call up the authorities anf we will discuss the matter with you.", I said, trying to handle the situation.

After some time, the higher authorities of the hospital and college gathered in the dissection lab. Alina had not left the body's side for even a second.

We had a long discussion for many hours. The body was officially ours and now, it would be difficult to hand it over to the family. She didn't really have a solid proof. The FIR, she mentioned was of no use since they had the particular document misplaced.

I was shocked to see the pointers she gave. Though the birth marks and moles were not visible anymore, we could easily locate the suture marks on the head. She said that, according to her mother-in-law, he had fallen from a bed when he was 2-3 years old and got the sutures on his head. The mark sure seemed too old. Moreover, she smartly pointed that he had a part of his 11th rib missing on the right side. He had got it removed surgically since it was badly injured in an accident about 7 years back.

These sure helped her case a lot. But the law demanded more solid proofs. "The umbilical cord!", she exclaimed. "Our third child was born in mumbai. Since it was a big hospital, they had advised us to preserve his birth cord for future. You can use it for DNA fingerprinting.", she said.