What is the importance of anatomy and physiology to the funeral profession?

Answer 1

That's a very interesting question. When I was in college majoring in business, I took an anatomy and physiology class just for my own curiousity. Everyone was surprised because the rest in class were medical or nursing students. So I have a rather unique perspective of seeing things from both sides of the fence. Now if you think about it, those involved in the funeral profession are dealing with dead bodies. Some of which may not be in the "best shape." Now the last thing a grieving family wants to see is a body that's in terrible shape and perhaps sickening to look at. Would that help to ease their pain of loosing a loved one? No! So part of what goes on Behind the Scenes is the "cleaning-up" of a body to make it look for realistic and presentable. So when the family is viewing the body, they're not horrified and experiencing even more grief then they are already. A knowledge of anatomy and physiology will help a funeral parlor "improve" problem areas. For example, if someone was shot in the chest and taken to the emergency room, doctors may have cut open the chest, had tubes sticking out, etc. All this wouldn't make a body look very nice and no grieving family member would want to see this! So the funeral home would somehow need to "fix and improve" this so the person wouldn't look that bad or horrifying. To do this, you'd need to know something about body parts and anatomy. Plus the embalming process isn't simply cut a hole and drain out all the blood. So there's some chemistry involved, proper handling of bodily fluids, etc. So basic anatomy and physiology is very relevant!