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Article ID: CBB251669031

Post-mortem in the Victorian asylum: practice, purpose and findings at the Littlemore County Lunatic Asylum, 1886–7 (2017)

Cullen, Lynsey T. (Author)

History of Psychiatry
Volume: 28
Issue: 3
Pages: 280-296

DOI: 10.1177/0957154X17702593

URI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0957154X17702593

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Medicine and culture Morbid anatomy; Experimental pathology Psychiatry Mortality Death Human body Autopsy Psychiatric hospitals 19th century Oxford (England)

This article examines the purpose of the post-mortem in the late Victorian asylum and discusses what the findings reveal about contemporary understanding of mental health. By examining the practice at the Littlemore Asylum of Oxford, the definition of the asylum post-mortem will be questioned and issues of consent and ownership of the dead body explored. It will be argued that the purpose of the examination was partly to appease the demands of the Commissioners in Lunacy, to protect the asylum against accusations of malpractice, and to appease the resident assistant medical officer’s own morbid curiosity. The examinations would therefore be better defined as dissections. This article will challenge understanding of institutional death, the legal processes required for dissection, and mental healthcare.

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