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15 Things Autopsy Tech Swears To Never Do: “I Will Never Forget That Smell”
We never know when our last day might come—or what might bring it about. But we can take steps to avoid the risks that make an early exit more likely.
Autopsy technician Dolly has seen firsthand how countless lives have been cut short. After noticing patterns in the causes of death on her table, she decided to share on TikTok the things she personally refuses to do in order to steer clear of the same fate.
Scroll down to see the full list and decide if you’d avoid them too.
This autopsy technician has seen countless lives end too soon
Image credits: yurlocalgothgurl
Now, she’s sharing the things she personally avoids to escape the same fate
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Working on my car with cheap jacks. Listen, I wouldn't be underneath my car anyway. I don't know what I'm looking at, but if I was, I'm not going to trust the $6.99 Harbor Freight jacks. Please spend a little bit more money. Your life is worth more than that.
ƒιѕн 5 months ago
I don't trust just using jacks or jack stands. When I crawl under and change oil in my truck (or any time I need it up in the air) I drive it up on ramps, solid wooden ramps, that I built just for working on my truck.
Marnie 5 months ago
My dad was the same. Until he was 70, he did all his own car repairs. He NEVER used jacks. And he emphasized the safety concern of that to all his kids, grandkids, in-laws, etc.
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#2
Reaching my hand and or wearing untied shoelaces while operating heavy machinery, like a tractor or a really big lawn mower. If you Google what degloving is, you'll know why I said that one.
Joe Reaves 5 months ago
Nope nope nope, don't need to google it because I know what it means and for those of you who have no clue? Trust me when I say you do not need to google it either. And btw don't wrap your dog lead around your hand because that can end with degloving too.
#3
Bending over too far in the washer. If you've ever heard of positional asphyxia, I have done countless autopsies of people who have positional asphyxiated in their washing machine from leaning into it and getting stuck, and they can't get out. It's not the start of a fun movie. It's real life. It can happen to you. Especially if you're me and you're short.
ƒιѕн 5 months ago
Wait, are you getting the clothes out with your teeth or what, how do you lean in a washer so far to get clothes out that you get stuck?
Becky Samuel 5 months ago
It's to do with toploaders; the accompanying picture is of the wrong kind of machine. I think they're still fairly common in the USA but I haven't seen one in the UK for decades.
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Nina 5 months ago
So, don't use toploaders, check. The frontloaders I know (European ones), you really can't fit in far enough to get to the above conclusion.
L.V 5 months ago
Even with extending my arm fully, it doesn't fit entirely in the washing machine.
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Colleen Glim 5 months ago
If you are short, get a step stool to help you reach the bottom of the washing machine. It’s just laundry
Joe Reaves 5 months ago (edited)
If you're short, don't use a toploader. I am short and I would never have one because I know I've almost ended up falling into chest freezers in supermarkets and I don't want to try that in my own home with a washing machine.
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Julie Blaylock 5 months ago
I’m short, 5’’2”. I got a pair of those really long salad tongs to grab stuff out of the washer so I don’t fall in head first!
Mandi Long 4 months ago
Smart Lady!! I keep one of those 'grabber' tong things next to my Washer and drier. And had another set in the garage with 'poop' bags for picking up walking the dog/s.
Load More Replies... Lousha 5 months ago
Without doubting the OP, I have to say this must be country specific. I live in Europe, and never seen a washing machine I could fit into. A child, yes. An adult, not so much. I can stick my hand in, but if I were to put my head in there, my hand would not fit next to it. Maybe the US has much larger machines.
Ivona 5 months ago
Many people here (the U.S.) have laundry rooms where they have a washer and dryer, and many people have large top-loading washers.
Load More Replies... Mandi Long 4 months ago
Try a 'picker upper'. They look like a huge pair of plastic tongs and so useful for so many times our arms are not long enough or cannot get behind an appliance, reaching a high shelf, not being able to bend over to pick up something on the floor. A total necessity for 'seniors'!!
Load More Replies... Lady Eowyn 5 months ago
I'm very short. The washing machines in my apartment building are top loading. I use a reacher-grabber to get at the clothes.
#4
Motorcycles. You can look cute with your cheeks hanging out all you want on the back of the motorcycle. But when you hit that pavement with nothing on your skin, the ground is the cheese grater, and you are the cheese. And please don't ruin that for everybody else.
Joe Reaves 5 months ago
In other words, dress for the slide, not the ride. Or, you know, don't get on a motorbike in the first place because you may be the next Valentino Rossi, but that won't help you when you encounter a 90 year old in an SUV who hasn't seen you and can't react in time when they do.
Kombatbunni 5 months ago (edited)
Having been knocked off a bike by some w4nk3r in a panelvan as a kid, and sliding into a patch of gravel, I was d4mn lucky all I had was severe road rash and mild concussion. I don’t want to think about what coming off a motorbike could do..
Thatkamloopsguy 5 months ago
Was at the CanAm nationals many yeas ago. There is nothing like a man screaming when he layed down his bike at 160mph. No leathers.
Thatkamloopsguy 5 months ago
was at the CanAm nationals many years ago. Nothing like hearing the screams of a man lying down his bike at 160mpg. No leathers.
#5
Not being careful on stairs. 'Cause what we're not gonna do is— the last visual someone has of me isn't gonna be like a stomped-out cockroach at the end of the stairs. And then I essentially have to be airlifted up the stairs in a sheet from a bunch of firemen carrying me that way. That's not what you're gonna see of me. That's not it. It's painful, it's sometimes not fast, and that's not how you're gonna view me.
Rali Meyer 5 months ago
as we say in sailing: always one hand for the boat. Use the handrails. Always
Fire Singer 5 months ago
I'm not super old, but I'm out of shape, and some stairs when I use them I go one step at a time, both feet one step holding the hand rail. It looks stupid but it's far safer than me pretending I can sprint up or down stairs like I did when I was a teen.
Nicole Weymann 5 months ago
Visited several museums and old buildings on my recent vacation. I appreciate the aesthetics of big ropes for railings, but the points they gain in the looks department dwindle to zero for practicality when they're supposed to keep people from tumbling down *uneven* stairs (looking at you, Malmö castle/city museum. I liked your place a lot, and you have great exhibitions, but the combo of those stairs and "railings" are several accidents waiting to happen)
Load More Replies... Lady Eowyn 5 months ago
I will not use stairs unless it's an emergency. I have a massive phobia about stairs, and it has taken a lot of physical therapy to overcome a balance issue.
#6
It kind of goes without saying, like motorcycles, wear your seatbelt. It's not cool to not wear your seatbelt anymore. Like, wear your seatbelt. Cause what's even more uncool is trying to think that you're cool and then having your sunroof open on a nice summer day, getting hit, getting in a rollover accident, getting halfway ejected out of your sunroof and getting cut in half. And you're not gonna be like the cute cut in half like the lady from Beetlejuice. They're gonna have a hard time putting you back together, so please wear your seatbelt.
Nina 5 months ago
Or just being ejected during a crash, period. If you go from moving at 80 km/h to stationary because you hit a tree, your body just becomes a projectile that'll be launched at that speed. People found outside of cars usually don't fare well.
Joe Reaves 5 months ago
You don't even have to be ejected. There's a lot of things in a car that will win in a collision with a soft fleshy human body.
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Nikki Private Citizen 5 months ago
My wonderful nephew died after being ejected from a vehicle after it crashed into a tree. The person driving (and wearing a seat belt) got a sprained elbow.
Rali Meyer 5 months ago
Lee Iacocca named the seat belt the best invention in automotive history in 1984. I wear mine
David Morgan 5 months ago
But, but , but the New World Order Guv'mint will send a remote locking signal to all the seatbelts when the revolution comes, and all the patriots will be trapped in their cars and...further mouth-foaming nonsense.
#7
When I'm elderly, I will not be eating steak. Baby girl, you can't chew anymore. You can't eat steak. You can't chew it, you're going to choke and die, and then you end up in the morgue, and I have to retrieve it from your esophagus, and it is disgusting. Please stop. Please stop eating steak when you're elderly.
KatSaidWhat 5 months ago
Ok, this can f**k right off. I will die by the steak if necessary. That's your problem.
Lady Eowyn 5 months ago
I'm 70. I have all my own teeth except for one molar I broke. I can chew steak just fine. Unfortunately, I can't afford steak.
PeepPeep the duck 5 months ago (edited)
Number one thing requested over and over by the lock down dementia patients I worked with who were alllll on soft or pureed food at this point. But thinking about it as a human and not a worker, I’d be pretty pisşed and missing steak at that point too
L.V 5 months ago
Mince it. If you don't get the texture, at least you'll get the taste
Load More Replies... Theora Fifty-five Johnson 5 months ago
If only there were some sort of tool, a utensil, to cut things into smaller pieces. That would help so much.
Fire Singer 5 months ago
If I truly can't chew it then I won't eat it, but if I still have functioning teeth (real or dentures or whatever) and can eat it, then I'll eat it. You can choke on anything so this seems a little silly on this list.
Sally Moen 5 months ago
Because teeth. Neither can babies comfortably chew cooked steak. Gnaw on it, yes, while under supervision. The thing is, why even try eating a piece of food that requires hard chewing unless you have all your teeth?
#8
Fracture burning. And this one may seem far-fetched, but there's a resurgence of it lately, in the past few years. Do not dismantle your microwave like a cr*ckhead and use the transformer to make pretty lightning bolts in your wood. Don't do it. Cause when you die, you're gonna look like the dude from Home Alone. Your hair is gonna be fried, and I'm gonna be able to see the electricity go through your entire body as it immediately stops your heart and burns your arms into that position.
Joe Reaves 5 months ago
This is how the wikipedia article on fractal burning starts - Fractal burning, Lichtenberg burning or wood fracking refers to a technique where a Lichtenberg figure is burnt into wood using high voltage electricity. It has gained notoriety due to numerous incidents of death or severe injuries when people have attempted it at home, with at least 33 people having died between 2017 and 2022
Joe Reaves 5 months ago
It makes pretty art *if you know what you're doing and take the correct precautions*. It is very popular on social media. And what do people who learn things from social media tend to have in common? They DON'T know what they're doing and DON'T take the correct precautions.
Load More Replies... #9
Under no circumstances, ever. Please. If you take away one thing from this, let it be this. Do not ever say these words to somebody: What are you gonna do, stab me? What are you gonna do, shoot me? They are. They're going to shoot and or stab you. Both. Even worse. I don't know. Don't say that. That's stupid. Don't f*****g say that. I cannot tell you how many people I've autopsied, and those are their last words.
Nina 5 months ago
How do they know? The person who did the stabbing/shooting declared that to them while they were picking up the body?
GalPalAl 5 months ago
Why would you goad someone on like that in a confrontational situation? Dumb!
Fire Singer 5 months ago
I think some people think of it like standing up to a bully. Most bullies will back down if you stand up to them, but someone with a weapon? Yeah I'm not gonna poke at them. Just give over your belongings and hopefully that's the worst thing you lose.
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#10
Botulism. This could be an irrational fear of mine. Botulism is like an extreme case of, like, the worst stomach flu you could ever have. It's a neurotoxin. And it happens when canned food is improperly sealed or, you know, someone does it themselves. So when papaw from down the street at the trailer park offers you homemade canned green beans, you can say yes, but don't eat that s**t. 'Cause the best case scenario is you're just gonna s**t your pants. Worst case scenario is you're gonna s**t your pants until you become paralyzed and die.
Lousha 5 months ago
I do lots of home canning, and I wouldn't eat someone else's canned goods. I know what I'm doing, I don't know what they are doing, and not gonna hope for the best.
Squirrelly Panda 5 months ago
I'm only willing to can fruit jam. It is hard to screw up in an invisible way. I don't know enough to safely can anything else.
Load More Replies... Fire Singer 5 months ago
THANK YOU! I knew I wasn't being crazy to not drink my MIL's apple cider from three years ago that she canned herself.
Bartlet for world domination 5 months ago
And don't preserve your own garlic in oil or cans (not for longer than a week under 40F), same reason.
JL 5 months ago
And yet some people have no trouble having it injected into their face. I know Botox is a processed, supposedly safe derivative, but why take the risk just for vanity?
Nea 5 months ago
My father-in-law is a neurologist, he gives botox routinely for neurological reasons too. Hardly any risk.
Load More Replies... #11
You wouldn't catch me dead getting any type of cut, burn, scrape that I'm not taking care of. Because what scares me even more than botulism is necrotizing fasciitis. Um, and that's where your skin is rotting and falling off. And the best way I can describe this to you is if you've ever made, like, the perfect top to a brownie pan, and it's, like, kind of caving in on some parts and, like, flaky on some parts, but, like, you can still see the underneath, that's what your skin's gonna look like. And it's not cute, it's not appetizing. And the smell is honestly horrific. It's one of the worst things I've ever smelled. I will never forget that smell. So please take care of your wounds thoroughly, please.
nottheactualphoto 5 months ago
This would make more sense if you'd throw in a "like" now and then.
David Morgan 5 months ago
Yeah, was this a direct transcription? SAYING like constantly is bad enough, writing it is absurd.
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Papa 5 months ago
I wash a minor cut if it's still bleeding, but my blood clots pretty fast, so I usually don't even do that. I do, however, keep my tetanus shots up to date.
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#12
You wouldn't catch me dead, getting in a car accident, um, where I hit a fence. This may seem confusing, but let me explain to you. When you're going at a high rate of speed and you hit a junction of a fence, if it is a chain link fence or any kind of metal fence, chances are the poles are gonna be hollow. And what happens when you hit the junction of that? It's gonna come apart. And when that pole goes directly through the front of your car, through your steering wheel, and cuts a Swiss cheese hole into your chest that I then have to pull out like King Arthur in the morgue, you will understand why that is at the top of my list.
L.V 5 months ago
I get what she says, but I've seen accidents where the car was pushed by another car/truck, or even lost control due to brakes falling, ice... I don't think that's something you'd do on purpose
Anthony Elmore 5 months ago
Oh, I don't know, I ram my car head-first into fences all the time. Call it fence-tipping or some other thing that's definitely not just random b******t I came up with as I'm typing this.
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Lady Eowyn 5 months ago
If it's an accident, by definition it's not something over which you have control.
#13
This is going to be controversial. You guys can totally argue amongst yourselves. No amount of arguing with me is going to change my mind based on the things that I have seen. Um, kratom is not safe. It's not safe. Quit pushing it on kids. Quit advertising it that way. It is not safe. It's not a safe pain management system. It's not safe. Please stop taking it. I'm tired of seeing people end up in the morgue because of this.
Sally Moen 5 months ago
Its heavily advertised in certain smoke shops. By smoke shops I mean small convenience-type stores that have a majority of tobacco products for sale along with vape products, glass pipes/bongs
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detective miller's hat 5 months ago
This one is BS. The "studies" calling kratom unsafe are all using incredibly skewed or just totally irrelevant cases. I've taken it for years, under the supervision of a doctor. It is the only thing that got me off opiates.
Uncle Panda 5 months ago
It's a pity OP didn't include any facts or websites supporting this opinion. Otherwise, it's just that. I've heard of kratom but have no desire.
Foxglove🇮🇪 5 months ago
Apparently it's from an Asian tree, with stimulant and o****d-like efffects
Nikki Private Citizen 5 months ago
It's been recommended to o****d addicts for years as a way to avoid being dope sick. I wondered about it when it first became mainstream, and this is what the initial information said. Didn't realize people have begun to use it recreationally.
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#14
I wouldn't be carrying any type of breakable enclosure. So let's say, like if I had a pet snake and I was carrying it down the stairs to take to the basement, and I tripped and fell, and then it crushed into me, and then my body got to the morgue. Morgue staff was really scared the whole time they were doing my autopsy because they thought maybe the snake was inside of me. Not that I would know that from experience or anything.
detective miller's hat 5 months ago
So how the helI does she move breakable stuff?? This one is just stupid.
Auntriarch 5 months ago
Did they start out as caterpillars? Because that's not a good thought
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#15
A GI (Gastrointestinal bleeding) bleed. You're not gonna catch me dead doing anything that can give me a GI bleed later on in life. And if I get one, immediately fixed. Not only are they incredibly painful, but the mess they leave in your house is like finding a crime scene. You follow the puddles that you have left behind, whether it's from the top or the bottom, to find your body. Like bloody handprints. And I just can't be seen like that for my last dying days.
UKDeek 5 months ago
I mean, if getting a GI bleed was a choice, I wouldn't choose it. However, people don't choose their medical problems, so this is a rather stupid "advice". If you have anything wrong with you, seek medical advice.
Catlady6000 5 months ago
Small bones in whole fish, accidentally swallowing a toothpick. Even grown people put dunb stuff in their mouth. When my Mom sewed she would hold the pins in her mouth instead of using a pin cushion.
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Lil be lil 5 months ago
How do I know I have G I bleed before it gets this bad!!!!?? And why what would cause this to happen?
The comments only strengthened her message as people shared real-life examples they knew of
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What do you think ?
detective miller's hat 5 months ago
This might actually be the dumbest thing I've ever seen posted on BP.
Kim Kermes 5 months ago
Spending your working days with dead people takes a toll. Especially when the deaths are preventable.
Load More Replies... Anthony Elmore 5 months ago (edited)
Y'all need to cut your steak up better. *Edit* Spelling. but your steaks would probably be more cute if you learned how to plate it properly, too.
UKDeek 5 months ago
So, let me chime in about motorcycles. For disclosure, I cannot ride a motorcycle and have no intention of having a mid-life crisis and learning to ride. I will say this though - wear the right gear! I have lost count of the amount of riders who have become separated from their bike and haven't been wearing the right clothing, and have had some significant injuries. I have also been to riders who have come off at speed and were wearing the right clothing, and have walked away with minor injuries. Might not look cool, might be hot and uncomfortable, but it will save you
Trisec Tebeakesse 5 months ago
Yep. I had a motorcycle for a few years. Wound up wrecking it - bike was totalled. But, I walked away without so much as a bruise. (fortunately landed on a grass median without any trees or signs.) Wear your gear, kids! (Not riding anymore, but I still miss it sometimes.)
Load More Replies... Kim Kermes 5 months ago
If you can't reach around someone to heimlich them, push them up to a table or counter edge, the way you self heimlich.
Lady Eowyn 5 months ago
How can OP enjoy any aspect of life if her focus is on how deadly even being alive is?
Vermonta 5 months ago
She was interviewed. I'm sure it doesn't consume her
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RoRoRomantasy 5 months ago
Is a Harley, like, safer? Than other motorcycles? Because I'm kind of an adrenaline j****e and I want to do the safest version of stupidly dangerous things
Huddo's sister 5 months ago
What's with the 'not gonna catch me dead'? Dead is a pointless addition to 'not gonna catch me'.
Anthony Elmore 5 months ago
This week on Huddo's sister learns basic things from the internet: Figures of speech. Go figure.
Load More Replies... detective miller's hat 5 months ago
This might actually be the dumbest thing I've ever seen posted on BP.
Kim Kermes 5 months ago
Spending your working days with dead people takes a toll. Especially when the deaths are preventable.
Load More Replies... Anthony Elmore 5 months ago (edited)
Y'all need to cut your steak up better. *Edit* Spelling. but your steaks would probably be more cute if you learned how to plate it properly, too.
UKDeek 5 months ago
So, let me chime in about motorcycles. For disclosure, I cannot ride a motorcycle and have no intention of having a mid-life crisis and learning to ride. I will say this though - wear the right gear! I have lost count of the amount of riders who have become separated from their bike and haven't been wearing the right clothing, and have had some significant injuries. I have also been to riders who have come off at speed and were wearing the right clothing, and have walked away with minor injuries. Might not look cool, might be hot and uncomfortable, but it will save you
Trisec Tebeakesse 5 months ago
Yep. I had a motorcycle for a few years. Wound up wrecking it - bike was totalled. But, I walked away without so much as a bruise. (fortunately landed on a grass median without any trees or signs.) Wear your gear, kids! (Not riding anymore, but I still miss it sometimes.)
Load More Replies... Kim Kermes 5 months ago
If you can't reach around someone to heimlich them, push them up to a table or counter edge, the way you self heimlich.
Lady Eowyn 5 months ago
How can OP enjoy any aspect of life if her focus is on how deadly even being alive is?
Vermonta 5 months ago
She was interviewed. I'm sure it doesn't consume her
Load More Replies... RoRoRomantasy 5 months ago
Is a Harley, like, safer? Than other motorcycles? Because I'm kind of an adrenaline j****e and I want to do the safest version of stupidly dangerous things
Huddo's sister 5 months ago
What's with the 'not gonna catch me dead'? Dead is a pointless addition to 'not gonna catch me'.
Anthony Elmore 5 months ago
This week on Huddo's sister learns basic things from the internet: Figures of speech. Go figure.
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