Death without the sting

doi:10.1136/bmj.d7369

From trainee to consultant, BMJ Group offers doctors around the world tailored information, special events, learning resources and recruitment services at every step along their career path.

... by doctors, for doctors, for patients
We are open for entries!

Online learning

BMJ Learning

High-quality CME / CPD for doctors and other healthcare professionals. BMJ Learning features hundreds of accredited, peer-reviewed learning modules in text, video, and audio formats. Find out more

Courses and Qualifications

BMJ Masterclasses

BMJ Masterclasses, led by experts, help clinicians to use the latest evidence and recent guidelines in practice and meet their CPD/CME requirements. Find out more

Exam Preparation

The leading provider of online exam preparation, helping over 167,000 healthcare professionals to pass their exams. Find out more

onExamination

Search all BMJ education articles:

From

Limit by

Access to the full text of this article requires a subscription or payment. Please log in or subscribe below.

John McGarry, retired surgeon, gynaecologist, and obstetrician, Bittadon, Barnstaple, UK

It’s payback time, thinks retired surgeon and gynaecologist John McGarry

Duncan Smith

The first dead person I saw was in 1956 on entering the dissecting room at Bristol Medical School. After the initial distaste was overcome, delicately cutting up a dead body became a pleasurable collegiate exercise with chat to fellows on the other side of the lead covered table, forming friendships that have been sustained lifelong.

Each Thursday, we had a viva on the previous week’s dissection, and I mostly got As and Bs. However, on Thursday 26 July 1956 I was rewarded with an E, as the day before I had joined …