An elderly man who died as a result of COVID-19 was recently dissected in front of a live paying audience in Oregon without his family's consent, according to a local news report.
The macabre public autopsy of 98-year-old David Saunders' body took place on Oct. 17 in a Marriott ballroom in Portland as a part of the traveling "Oddities and Curiosities Expo," KING-TV reported.
According to its website, the expo often features dark art and sideshow performances and markets itself as a leading community "for lovers of the strange, unusual, and bizarre."
Family members of Saunders, including his widow, only learned of the morbid event after seeing it covered by local news and were reportedly shocked at the revelation.
They had been under the impression that when they donated their loved one's body to Las Vegas-based company Med Ed Labs, the body would be used for private medical research — not in a traveling freak show.
Instead, Saunders' body ended up in the hands of DeathScience.org founder Jeremy Ciliberto, who in turn used it as a centerpiece at the expo. Attendees reportedly paid $500 to witness the autopsy in person.
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This is hard to believe they would have given the name of the person.
I have done human dissection (at a medical school) but we did not know the names, not even the cause of death.