Quotation

Morgue

a Life in Death
There was an adage to consider: “Internists know everything but do nothing; surgeons know nothing but do everything; psychiatrists know nothing and do nothing; and pathologists know everything and do everything, but it is too late.” === A baby dies without dreams or memories. That’s why the death of a child is so tragic. We wish for them to know what we know about life, about us. They haven’t yet wondered why there are stars, sung a song, or truly laughed. === The math is grotesque but simple. Over twenty-three years, at least seven children died and at least five others suffered dangerous breathing spells in Martha’s care. They all had different parents, lived in different places, had different histories, but their deaths were eerily similar. And one person was always there: Martha Woods. === In the old days, when ordinary people were more familiar with death, unidentified bodies would be propped up in the morgue’s street-side window in hopes a passerby might recognize them.