Man donated his body to science; company sold $500 tickets to his dissection

Enlarge / Medical examiner or forensic scientist with dead man's corpse in morgue. (credit: Getty Images)

A Louisiana widow is left horrified at the news that her deceased husband was dissected in front of a live, paying audience after she donated his body to scientific research.

Elsie Saunders had carried out the wishes of her late husband, David Saunders, who wanted his body donated to help advance medical science, according to The Advocate. David Saunders, a World War II and Korean War veteran, died of COVID-19 on August 24 at the age of 98. Donating his body was his last act of patriotism, Elsie Saunders said.

But instead of being delivered to a research facility, David Saunders' body ended up in a Marriott Hotel ballroom in Portland, Oregon, where DeathScience.org held an "Oddities and Curiosities Expo." At the October 17 event, members of the public sat ringside from 9 am to 4 pm-with a break for lunch-to watch David Saunders' body be carefully dissected. Tickets for the dissection sold for up to $500 per person.

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