Kate and Gerry have both publicly contested the cadaver alerts?

[Vertigo Swirl]

Hope the recovery go's well,but Jeez what are you doing spending time on here,what am I missing? Relieves the boredom one supposes.

Precisely - it relieves the boredom - without my laptop I would have died of it by now.

[Vertigo Swirl]

One of the cadaver dogs, of course. If they don't react, then you haven't been contaminated.

I'm afraid Dr Canine doesn't appear to be on the staff at this particular hospital but thanks for the suggestion.

[slartibartfast]

Did you say they normally leave a body in a ward overnight for relatives to grieve over whilst other patients are lying in their beds?  Sorry I missed that bit.

When did I say that?

[Vertigo Swirl]

When did I say that?

You didn't but you didnt' really say anything relevant to the point I was making which was that - I had been left in a room with a corpse for seven hours and what this might mean regarding odour transference.

[Robittybob1]

no idea, but I was stuck in a smallish ward with a corpse for 7 hours, my curtains, table, other stuff were swooshed by nurses who had been in direct contact with the corpse, albeit with gloves on, but if you touch a corpse with gloves on, then touch a curtain to pull it back and then I touch the curtain, does that not make me a potential carrier of the scent?

Did you see it done in that exact order?

[Vertigo Swirl]

Did you see it done in that exact order?

pretty much yes - also, I'd like to point out that hospital curtains must be the filthiest items in the world because if a nurse goes in to wash a patient who has vomited or used a bedpan or wet the bed, they may well wear disposable gloves to clean up but they are usually still wearing those same gloves when pulling back the curtains, or have been from my observations.

[slartibartfast]

You didn't but you didnt' really say anything relevant to the point I was making which was that - I had been left in a room with a corpse for seven hours and what this might mean regarding odour transference.

You implied that the nurses would be contaminated with cadaver odour even though they would most likely have finished dealing with the body long before the development of cadaver odour and the staff responsible for moving the body would be unlikely to be having contact with other patients without clean up.

[Brietta]

You implied that the nurses would be contaminated with cadaver odour even though they would most likely have finished dealing with the body long before the development of cadaver odour and the staff responsible for moving the body would be unlikely to be having contact with other patients without clean up.

In other words ... were one to sit shooting the breeze in a smoke filled room for a number of hours ... the curtains and other soft furnishings, one's hair and clothing wouldn't stink to high heaven of tobacco smoke.
Sounds reasonable.

[Robittybob1]

pretty much yes - also, I'd like to point out that hospital curtains must be the filthiest items in the world because if a nurse goes in to wash a patient who has vomited or used a bedpan or wet the bed, they may well wear disposable gloves to clean up but they are usually still wearing those same gloves when pulling back the curtains, or have been from my observations.

I think the observation you have made is a very valuable one.  I hope you report this to the management at the hospital.  It needs to be addressed.

[Vertigo Swirl]

You implied that the nurses would be contaminated with cadaver odour even though they would most likely have finished dealing with the body long before the development of cadaver odour and the staff responsible for moving the body would be unlikely to be having contact with other patients without clean up.

The people who moved the body are the same people who have brought two other patients into the ward in the last 24 hours.  Nurses, or assistants who help us in the ward stripped the bedding the corpse was lying on to be sent to laundry.  And your point is...?

[Vertigo Swirl]

I think the observation you have made is a very valuable one.  I hope you report this to the management at the hospital.  It needs to be addressed.

I'm seriously considering it.

[Vertigo Swirl]

When my daughter comes home from a night out with her friends she whiffs of tobacco smoke despite not being a smoker herself, and despite the fact that most of the smoking is done in an outdoor environment, ie: outside the club or pub.

[Robittybob1]

Agreed.  When my daughter comes home from a night out with her friends she whiffs of tobacco smoke despite not being a smoker herself, and despite the fact that most of the smoking is done in an outdoor environment, ie: outside the club or pub.

I doubt if cadaver odour is transferred in a similar fashion unless the cadaver was incinerated in a fire close by.

[Brietta]

'Odour' is defined as being a distinctive smell, particularly an offensive one.  I think it takes a wee while in most circumstances for the smell of a decomposing corpse to register on the human nose.  It takes no time at all for the smell of tobacco to register; if you hang a tobacco contaminated garment in your cupboard there will definitely be a transference of the odour to whatever else is hanging therein.

The principal for one odour is the same as for all others.  Sometimes, although it is there we may be unable to detect a scent but a dog surely will and can be trained accordingly, and that is when the human interaction kicks in.

[Robittybob1]

In my opinion the analogy fits.  'Odour' is defined as being a distinctive smell, particularly an offensive one.  I think it takes a wee while in most circumstances for the smell of a decomposing corpse to register on the human nose.  It takes no time at all for the smell of tobacco to register; if you hang a tobacco contaminated garment in your cupboard there will definitely be a transference of the odour to whatever else is hanging therein.

The principal for one odour is the same as for all others.  Sometimes, although it is there we may be unable to detect a scent but a dog surely will and can be trained accordingly, and that is when the human interaction kicks in.

I'm not so sure.   Didn't someone post about the droplets of oil in tobacco smoke?

"The particles in tobacco smoke are liquid aerosol droplets (~ 20% water), with a mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD) that is submicrometer (and thus, fairly "lung-respirable" by humans). The droplets are present in high concentrations (some estimates are as high as 10¹⁰ droplets per cm³). Most cigarettes today contain a cigarette filter, which can reduce "tar" and nicotine smoke yields up to 50% by several different mechanisms, with an even greater removal rate for other classes of compounds (e.g., phenols).[1]"

I have not read that cadaver odour is transferred via aerosol droplets naturally from a cadaver.