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xinabess Asked July 2017

Morbid curiousity: How do they transport deceased patients in a hospital, from the room to the morgue?

My cousin died a few weeks ago, in a hospital room on a regular floor - nurses's station, other rooms, etc. Do they just put you in a body bag and carry your through the halls? I've spent a lot of time in hospitals recently due to my mother's ongoing health problems, and I've never (knowingly) seen a dead person being wheeled or carried anywhere in sight. I know there's no other way to do it, but why do you never see this in hospitals, since people are dying all the time?

MsMadge Jul 2017
I've seen several recently departed leave mom's memory care - it sometimes takes hours for the mortuary to arrive
Thank goodness when mom's roommate died my friend was there to keep her out of the room for the afternoon

Unfortunately there's no back exit and they literally push the body bag through the tv room and out the front door

jjariz Jul 2017
xinabess,
Basically it's a gurney with a hidden compartment

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xinabess Jul 2017
Redrum, what is an elevated sheet frame??

redrum Jul 2017
I've worked in a hospital for years and this is how they do it: they have a special gurney which has an elevated sheet frame. It looks like a regular empty gurney going down the hall even though a body can be inside.

xinabess Jul 2017
That makes sense, fflyer. I have seen some people going by who look, well, not very alive.

freqflyer Jul 2017
xinabess, that's an interesting question.

I've been doing volunteer work at a large regional hospital for 20 years, and I think maybe, not sure, the deceased is wheeled out like they are heading to surgery.... usually one cannot tell by looking at the person they had recently passed. Hospitals usually have private Staff elevators that they use to transport to the morgue.

At Assisted Living where my Dad has passed, the funeral home came as soon as they could as it was 3 in the morning. Thus they did use a body bag since only Staff were around at that hour. They took the elevator to the basement level and exit through a back door.

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