It turns out that every time an autopsy is done, something is always taken out of the body…
It’s scary to think about de@th, but tragically, it’s something we’ll all have to deal with at some point. Maybe it’s best not to think about it too much.
But when it comes to dying, people are generally morbidly curious, and there are many different ideas about what happens to us once we d!e.
One thing is for sure: we leave our bodies behind, and even then we have a choice about what to do with them.
Gerald Ledford, an autopsy technician, explains the intricacies of his unusual job if you want to know what happens.
Ledford has a mind-boggling 2.3 million followers on TikTok, where he answers people’s queries about his job and shares secrets about it.
Recently, one of his curious followers asked him a pressing question: What happens to piercings when someone d!es?
They said they wanted to keep all of their piercings even after they d!ed.
He said, “The only one I take out is your tongue ring,” which goes against what most people think. During an autopsy, I take off your tongue. He explained why this step was necessary and stressed the need to make sure that forensic procedures were not affected.
He also said in another video that this piercing is the only one that won’t stay since he will take out the tongue, which is something that happens in all autopsies.
“During an autopsy, I remove your tongue to ensure that you did not bite it or have drugs in the back of your throat,” he explained.
So if you have a tongue ring, that one comes out, but if you have piercings in your nose, ears, eyebrows, or private regions…
Thank goodness, other piercings, like those on your eyebrows, nipples, and anywhere else you can think of, usually stay intact.
Ledford’s instructive film got a lot of attention, with over 215,000 likes and 2.5 million views. This made a lot of people shocked.
Many people were shocked by the news regarding tongue removal, and some couldn’t believe that this is a normal treatment.
One individual joked, “You will be putting it back. I have it twice, and I’m not going through the pain of swelling for nothing, even in de@th.”
Another person said, “My husband had to have all of his piercings taken out before he could be cremated.” I held on to them.
Someone someone said, “Do we cut off all tongues?” Where do they go? Is there a tongue pile somewhere?
A fourth individual stated, “We’re all freaking out at the thought of our tongues being cut off… after we’re de@d!”
In another interesting video, Ledford talked about how unexpected his job is, which helped explain the changing workload of an autopsy technician.
On certain days, there will be more than one autopsy, and on other days, there won’t be any at all.
He said, “The most I’ve done in one day is eight.” He did eight on a Monday afternoon.
So, as long as they aren’t on your tongue, your piercings are safe!