Sometimes when things are a little quiet, I like to scan the hospital directory to see all the departments there are. There’s accounts payable, labor and delivery, intensive care unit, supplies and dozens of others. Each one is neatly typed with the telephone extension beside it. I scan the list several times looking for the morgue extension. It’s not there. Do they get phone calls in the morgue? How about ‘deceased patients’? No! I bet it’s under ‘pathology’, yes I bet that’s it. I could call and ask “is that the morgue?”. But I never will know (unless I ask).

The morgue is located in the basement, the true hub of the hospital. In the basement you will find the pharmacy, laboratory, linens, computer training rooms, medical supplies, and, of course, the morgue. I know it’s there because some jovial staff like to tell stories of new employees being sent down to get some towels and find themselves in the morgue. There are no signs to the morgue either, in fact there are no indications that it is there. I’ve never seen a body being taken down there, they must have a special elevator or something.

Even so, whenever I must venture to the basement this is always in the back of my mind. There are no windows down there, the walls are dark gray, and there are lots of broken hospital beds, wheelchairs and other such discarded equipment waiting for repair or destruction. There are many, many corridors and it is very easy to get lost down there. One day I have to take blood samples to the lab, and now I think that the morgue is next door to the lab. There’s no smell down there, just that hospital smell. In fact I wonder how the bodies are taken out. In some ways I’d quite like to visit the morgue, see what’s it is like and clear this morbid fascination with it. It’s a rite of passage I must make. I’ve seen dead animals, but as yet never a dead human body. I’ll keep you posted!!

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