The book: “The Dead is Not Dead,” is written by Uwom Eze (2024, University Press), a forensic pathologist. It is a 14-chapter, 406-page work in which the author argues for the respect for the personhood and dignity of the dead. The author’s intentions are expressed in the preface.
The work is about the dead and how to handle their bodies, especially with regard to the needs of their families and friends.
The author also attempts to discuss the “uncomfortable subject” of death without technical trappings and for the easy apprehension of both lay public and professionals in science and forensic medicine. Thus, the book is “to stimulate necessary reflection and public discourse in various aspects of the obvious and not-so-apparent issues that affect the Dead, their families and communities”.
In the first chapter, the author clarifies the place of pathology (p1) in the general sphere of science as medicine’s iceberg. “It is the deck of the giant ship of medicine, the cornerstone of which carries other structures above it.” Essentially, the author avers that pathologists are doctors to patients and “consultants to other doctors.” In fact, the author argues (p5) that if medical practitioners ignore or fail to understand general pathology, then they are likely to misapply symptomatic treatments.
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In this book, Dr. Uwom believes that the dead communicate with the living, and this communication gives the living previously unknown clue to how the dead died. That is what Chapter two deals with: the phenomenon referred to as autopsy. In this chapter, the author informs that autopsy is called upon when there are “unanswered questions” about any death, even though in itself, autopsy has “acquired considerable fame, notoriety and controversy.” Thus he explains the place of autopsy or post-mortem examination in the care of the dead. Still, the author considers his conversation about autopsy in the light of some social and cultural norms and beliefs about life, death and the afterlife.
This is necessary because some believe (p34) that the “autopsy could appear as an unnecessary intrusion into the wholeness of the dead that could interfere with their bodily integrity and appearance in the afterlife.” This is indeed a critical chapter that provides the author’s deep discussion of autopsy in order to clear doubts and public misconception.
In chapter three, the author avers that what medical doctors write as the cause of death, is, in fact not the cause of death but “modes by which death can occur.” (P70) This is because if a death certificate indicates heart failure or cardiac arrest, it is merely an expression of “mode of death” as “we are yet to be informed of what caused death in the specific circumstance.” So the author insists that families of the deceased deserve to know what caused the death of their loved ones, a critical role that practitioners must play. The author therefore sets the table and invites the reader to a feast of the nitty-gritty of considerations concerning the cause of death.
In the book, the author discusses the place of the mortuary in the care of the dead (chapter four): an important element in the healthcare value chain. And he informs that the quality of mortuary services constitutes a “strong statement about the care the society renders to the Dead and a significant index of comprehensive healthcare delivery and civilisation.” (p107) He also believes that a critical conversation in the care of the dead must revolve around the way the bodies of the dead are transported (chapter five), and that the appearance of the body of the dead is important (chapter six). In this chapter, the author lays out the intricacies of the management of the body of the dead, the rites and rituals (as determined by the culture or sect of the deceased), the ethical and medicolegal situations that may be observed in the management of the body of the dead.
In sharing an engagement with a police officer, the author reflects on the issue of semantics especially deployed in references to the dead. He writes of the officer’s deep thought on the need to humanise and acknowledge the personhood of the dead. And this is the crux of the matter in the seventh chapter of the book, The Dead is Not Dead. The author opines (p194) that how we talk about the dead matters and that we should apply this consciousness from childhood. The author wonders why, for instance, adults would not discuss the dead in the presence of children, or why the image presented of the dead to children associates them with ghosts. So he insists that we should call the dead by their names (p198) as it may be offensive for their loved ones to simply refer to them as the “deceased” or “dead”. In fact, the author vehemently opposes using the term “cadaver” to refer to the body of a deceased person. You might want to know why. Well, the answer is in this book.
The book also discusses in detail, what the author describes as dignified management of the dead, especially what constitutes service processes for the dead (chapter eight), and what constitutes malpractices against the dead (chapter nine). In this situation, one might want to ask: do the dead suffer from wrongful conduct? Of course the answer is a “yes”. So the author breaks it down and mentions things like trafficking in parts of the body of the dead or mutilation, unauthorised retention of tissues or organs, failure to preserve the body, indecent exposure and despicable remarks about the body of the dead.
In this book, Dr. Uwom Eze makes crucial clarification and distinction between a mass burial and a mass grave. This is a rather instructive section (chapter 10) of the book that breaks down the issue, especially for a reader who might have heard about the two terms being interchangeably used a lot of times. In addition, the author takes time to debunk some myths about bodies of the dead, which perhaps many communities have held as true for generations. The key myth in relation to the dead is that bodies of the dead cause epidemics. The author insists emphatically (p279) that bodies of the dead do not cause any epidemic. “This would happen if there is already an epidemic causing the death of people in that locality and such a disease is also transmitted by contact with the bodies of the dead.” Of course, further clarification about this is done within the chapter for public and peer appreciation.
The rest of the book provides the author’s submission about how to manage data (chapter eleven) about the dead (and for their families and loved ones), and an interesting discourse relating to the next of kin (chapter twelve), as well as some forensic nuggets (chapter thirteen) which I find rather interesting too. For instance, the author makes very strong and bold statements about the intriguing phenomenon called the autopsy. Reading that part of the book prompts me to ask a series of questions. For example, can an autopsy be manipulated or poorly conducted? Is there a possibility that it can be misread? These questions are readily answered in the book.
The fourteenth (and last) chapter, Dr. Uwom Eze puts forth his key thesis in the work, The Dead is not Dead. In a rather emphatic manner, he avers that the dead is perpetually alive in the memories of their families and friends, colleagues and neighbours, co-workers and social groups, among others. For him, the dead are an “inherent part of Life’s coin, which comprises the Living and the Dead” and that the dead exert influence on individuals and communities. (p382) For the author, the personhood of the dead “still resonates with their families, friends and communities” and their “presence” continues to shape the world. Thus, we the living owe the dead the preservation of their dignity.
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The author’s key motif is his bewilderment about the unspoken, especially about what causes the death of loved ones. For the author, full disclosure of the causes of a loved one’s demise will help them to have closure. And by closure, the author means making families and society to move forward (p384), “away from the paralysis of grief, accepting the fact of the death of their loved ones, and having satisfaction in the service processes attributed to the deceased from the time of death up to their final rites.”
In the final analysis, this book is a much needed gift to the entire sphere of medicine and an important addition to the body of knowledge. There are fourteen chapters and 406 pages of punch and eye-opening teaching, persuasion, pleading and exposition, and the often avoided theme of death. It assuages the thirst of the living and the dead, and it is an interesting discourse on the need to allow the dead to “rest in peace.” The author has done a magnificent job of making the work accessible to both scientists and lay people like me. It is a fantastic work.
. Olatunbosun is a broadcast journalist, fact-checker and book reviewer at Splash FM 105.5, Ibadan. He can be reached via [email protected] and on X @miketunbosun.