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Concept
Morgue
Summary
A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have customarily been refrigerated to delay decomposition.
The term mortuary dates from the early 14th century, from Anglo-French mortuarie, meaning "gift to a parish priest from a deceased parishioner," from Medieval Latin mortuarium, noun use of neuter of Late Latin adjective mortuarius "pertaining to the dead," from Latin mortuus, pp. of mori "to die" (see mortal (adj.)). The meaning of "place where the deceased are kept temporarily" was first recorded in 1865, as a euphemism for the earlier English term "deadhouse".
The term morgue comes from the French. First used to describe the inner wicket of a prison, where new prisoners were kept so that jailers and turnkeys could recognize them in the future, it took on its modern meaning in fifteenth-century Paris, being used to describe part of the Châtelet used for the storage and identification of unknown corpses.
Morgue is predominantly used in North American English, while Mortuary is used in the U.K., although both terms are used interchangeably. The euphemisms “Rose Cottage” and “Rainbow’s End” are sometimes used in British hospitals to enable discussion in front of patients and visitors, the latter mainly for children.
An auxiliary person responsible for the care of the deceased is known as a mortuary assistant or diener. A person qualified in the evisceration and reconstruction of the deceased is called an Anatomical Pathology Technician in the UK, also called a mortician or autopsy technician in the USA.
There are two types of mortuary cold chambers:
Positive temperature
Bodies are kept between 2 °C (36 °F) and 4 °C (39 °F). While this is usually used for keeping bodies for up to several weeks, it does not prevent decomposition, which continues at a slower rate than at room temperature.
Negative temperature
Bodies are kept at between −10 °C (14 °F) and −50 °C (−58 °F).
Official source
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