I once had a client who was promised her finger back after amputation. I researched the issue of who has the right to “body parts.” There are so many historical and religious issues that pop up from right to burial for such items to other support for it is a person’s right. Although it was approved pre-surgery and she had a note attached to her, the hospital refused to turn over the finger. Ultimately after being challenged the finger was taken out of formaldehyde and placed in saline and sat on a lawyers desk for 8 hours. After a final demand and concerns that the finger was being shown in that office as some type of joke, the hospital insisted it was a “sharp” and the fluid was hazardous. In the end An idea came up to have a local funeral home take custody. A very kind and caring director prepared the finger and ultimately the finger was given to the person. An interesting but true story and it should be remembered how odd it may seem the right to one’s body has a long history in the law and religion. I hope I’ve opened your possible position on this issue.

I asked for pictures of my surgery... and the circulating RN got permission from the surgeon and took pics with my camera.... placed inside a sealed sterile bag. It was awesome! (But I'm an RN and at the time actually worked in surgery)

My dad had a toe amputated after a minor home accident (osteomyelitis- sometimes it's better to seek professional help for a minor injury). It was a few weeks before Christmas, and I asked the surgeon if I could have the toe. He asked why. I said I wanted to hang it from the overhang on the front porch so people could kiss under the Missing Toe. Everyone laughed. The surgeon was speechless. I did not get the toe.

I totally understand them, patients want to frame the artwork

I got my old pacemaker back after my latest replacement surgery! I wanted it fresh out of my body in a specimen cup but they actually had to send it back to the manufacturer and they sanitized it. They sent it to me via FedEx all nice and clean. It was really weird to finally see the device that had been in my chest and kept me alive for six years for the very first time!

I kept my plates and screws from my broken wrist when I elected to have them removed. Gave them to my physical therapist to put on his medical skeleton. I'm giving him my plate and screws from my tibial plateau break when I get my knee replacement to also put on it.

Gall stones, kidney stones, bladder gravel are all solids that are reasonably easy to store, and teeth can be cleaned up so that they can be stored. I'd definitely want to keep those. Soft parts present storage difficulties - unless they are bottled in some sort of a preservative. I do know of one person who was given her adenoids - which were pretty much Guinness Book of Records contenders. Soft parts often also need to be sent off for testing, which makes them unsuitable for giving to the patient. So, in those cases, either showing the patient the bit that has been put in a bag or a phial ready to be sent off, or showing them a photograph is more appropriate. Rods, pins, screws, etc - I guess if you want them you should be allowed to keep them. Amputated digits or limbs - like with soft parts, definitely present storage difficulties - but if the patient has a practical plan (even if you think it's silly, like giving a foot a funeral) let them have it. My body is ... my body.

Yes. I want to see everything.

When I had to have a first rib resection, I asked repeatedly if I could have my rib, to no avail. They kept refusing me. And I never got it. But I had heard of other people who were able to have their rib. 🤷🏼‍♀️

My father had a green prescription bottle that contained three gallstones that were removed from his surgery back in the 1960s. I think that used to be something that surgeons did back then. When my gallbladder was removed 20+ years later, I didn’t ask for my stones, which was just as well as I was told I had between 40 & 50 stones AND they weren’t able to get them all (I was bad about telling the doctor the recurrence of gall bladder attacks for two weeks after he discovered the stones in the first place. 🤦‍♀️ They kept me in the hospital for over a week longer to pull stones out of my bile duct every day for 8 days. I was brought up to be stoic and not complain to doctors unless absolutely necessary. I didn’t think pain and vomiting were all that big a deal because it had been happening off and on for years before that. Guess I just have a higher tolerance for pain than most. When both my parents had gall bladder attacks they’d go to the emergency room. Me? I’d just go lay down in my office, behind my desk until the pain passed. Was told I’m lucky I didn’t get sepsis, 😮

I’ve asked for a few things on the past. I asked to keep the screws they took out of my ankle after almost ten years and I always ask if I can keep my teeth after an extraction lol

I have my gallstones. It's just interesting to see what they look like.

I have the bladder stones from this hansome guy 😁🐾🐾

Back in the 70s my doctor kept my tonsils in formaldehyde - which of course evaporated - found them 40 years later 😂... Like 2 pebbles

No thanks on any stones! Luckily I've never had any! I did get to keep the rods and screws that were in my legs! Stainless steel ones! I didn't want to get held up in security at the airport! Thanks Dr Kaveh! I hope you're having a great weekend! Love from North Carolina!💞✌️

My mum was mighty proud of her gallstonees, they stood on the table beside her to cheer up her bedroom. 😂

No thanks from the parts that have been done to me in the surgery room. However my grandmother kept her gallstones in a jar of clear liquid. She said she thought that the grandkids would like to see it. We must have been a morbid bunch because we would ask to see them. 😊😅🎉

I’m a curious one and want to see! I did take home a salivary stone from under my tongue to show my mom and threw it out after I crushed it. I wanted to see how hard it was !😂

I had surgery with a incision from my sternum to my groin and asked my surgeon for a photo of my insides. He cleared it with the scrub nurse and now I had a great picture of me on the operating table with my insides splayed open. 😀🇦🇺

I had Gallbladder surgery in 1991& wanted my stones, all 24, except the one taken for biopsy. They over time decenterated into fine powder. Plus my Jackson Pratt drain & T-tube drain. Relax, I was a nurse back than.

Yes! I have my large gallstone. My son has his leg halo implant screws. After all, the insurance company paid for them ($3000). Since the hospital recycled them (1990s) after removal, we got retired parts.

I Just had an explant surgery and wanted to keep my implants...I paid for them after all! My request was denied saying the hospital wouldn't allow it! 😡 I know a lot of people who have... least I could have for all the pain and $$

I was 16 when I had my tonsils out and asked if I could have them in a little pot! They put them on top of my locker so that they would be the first thing I would see when I woke, guess what happened after that….. yes that’s right I threw up everywhere 😄.

Imaging is enough. I want the internal images 😁 YES!! "Like" come on doc what did that spinal injury and blood splatter really look like on the internal cams. I want it all, and I want it now!! 😊 Medical science nerds at heart.

I just had back surgery and asked for a picture just before they closed me up. I was delighted that the doc delivered.

Titanium rods and hardware are very very $$$ so why not? IMO your body (part) your choice. But I can see how some requests seem gross even to MDs. Quite the subject Lol!

I have my gall stones from 1979. Kidney stones from 2005. The screws from my daughter’s broken arm 1983 and all her casts. Plus photos for my cancerous uterus and rotator cuff and attachments. 😃

I am a former labor and delivery surgical tech. I was used to the requests for the placenta. Cool, let me bag it up and toss it in the fridge until you go home. I still need help understanding the folks who wanted to save the meconium.

I have had 14 surgeries on my lower leg, ankle, and foot because of a car accident (other injuries and surgeries from it too). I have had so many plates, screws, rods, wire, nails, internal bone stimulators, and battery packs. I have had over 70 total but currently have 44 implanted. My husband always jokes with my doctor that if metal prices go up that they can scrap my leg and split the profit, which always makes my doctor laugh. A couple of surgeries ago, I joked when going under that he and my husband have a standing deal about my titanium and that the patient isn't even in on it. I said, "I don't even have an old screw to use as a keychain." This was going to be one of the take some out and put more in kind of surgeries. When I was waking up in recovery my nurse said, "Honey, you got a little present for you from Dr. K." It was a specimen bag with some of the screws and plates he took out and the techs could clean up enough and would be safe for me to have. There was a note on it, "For keychain or jewelry use. If Hubby scraps, Doc gets half." When I read it, I thought I was loopy from the meds still. When I got to my room, Hubby saw it and couldn't stop laughing. Going through TSA or customs is so much fun for me too. I already know that I'm going to secondary with what my husband and I have nicknamed it "The Bionic One". Bonus: Most of the inside of that ankle are surgical skin graphs. It was a 7 inch x 5 inch and two inches deep hole where necrotic tissue started going through my foot pretty early in this experience. They're made from cells of pig intestines... 5 surgical graphs total. Football season is always with me, which is ironic since it's my least favorite sport. I still randomly break out in the Oscar Meyer bologna song when we are shopping in the meat department. I often break out with my best Vanna White wave saying, "Look Honey! It's my family" I also have had food allergies since childhood, one of which is foods smoked with oak, hickory, and pecan. I can't even have bacon so Hubby says that I'm allergic to my own foot. 🤣 Sometimes, you just have to find humor in the hard stuff and it helps when you have someone there for the good, bad, and ugly... even for good natured teasing. Crying and anger can be very tiring at times and certainly has it's place, but it can be enough to drive a person into madness. Bitterness is not a good look either and can rob you of what joy life can bring, especially after almost 18 years of dealing with all of this. Life isn't about what happens to you as much as it is about what you do with the deck you were given. That is where your legacy will live long after you're gone from this world.

I was asked before gallstone surgery in NZ whether I wanted to see/have the stones after surgery. I said "yes" because I wanted to see the little monsters that had caused me endless agony.

YES. The answer is YES.

I didn’t want any reminders. The hospital sent me home with a bag of stuff and I hid it in my closet and never opened it. Took me six months to go near my backpack that came with me to the hospital. I don’t look at my abdomen because I don’t want to see the scars. Threw away my brand new shoes that I was wearing when they hospitalized me. I want to donate all of my unopened colostomy supplies but I can’t bring myself to go near that box either. I used to cry when I would see the hospital. I would give anything to not remember what happened. Why would anyone want a souvenir

My grandfather asked for, and, received his gallstones in a jar. This was in the 80’s though. He kept them on his dresser but would bring them out on request.

100% I'd want to keep it! I've requested video too but they say they can't do that. My vet will take pictures though, so that's fun (my poor kitty needs dental surgery for resorption lesions semi often)

Only wanted my gold crowns if they needed to be replaced.

😂. When I was having the staples removed from my incision from my first surgery I asked for one staple. This was 10 years ago; I still have it.

Yes I want to see them

I read that Propofol has egg yolk lecithin in it. What happens to patients with egg allergies? (Asked you on TT too) 😊

I had no idea people ask for souvenirs from surgery. I will be meeting with my Oncologist in a few days, to discuss my upcoming surgery but cannot think of any surgery reminders I would want.

Gallstones are pretty, would make a nice pair of earrings. I have Amy old hardware from my back - that's scary looking !

Love you, but haven't seen your dog mentioned in a long time. Would love to see your wife. You are appreciated for sharing so much information.

I requested fetal parts. Just to get an independent chromosome count...

I accidentally sat on a sewing needle and had to have surgery to remove it (it had gone inside my thigh) . As I was waking up the nurse asked me if I wanted the needle back? How weird, obviously I said no thankyou.

I'd have loved to see my gallstones!!! At least a picture of them!

The doctor gave my husband his two huge gallstones, without my husband asking for them, but my husband was thrilled to show them to anyone who was interested. 😅

When I had my first baby, someone asked if I wanted to see the placenta after the cord blood donation was completed. I said “Sure” and promptly forgot about it. Two days later, as I was leaving, I was handed a cooler (no ice) with my placenta in it. I opened it and nearly passed out from the smell! I told them I had clearly misunderstood their question and sent it to the biohazard bin! 😂

I asked what was going to happen to my gallbladder after surgery. They said it was going to be sent to be screened for cancer. I figured this was a better option than whatever I was going to do with it so I didn't object.

I didn't ask, I just got my acl screw in a little package 😂 They sanitised it and with no explanation gave it to me after I woke up from the anesthesia. I looked so surprised at the nurse 😂 I laughed that I got my first souvenir from a hospital 😂

Yes, absolutely!! I actually watch surgeries on YT. Always wanted to be one…

Yes. I'd want them if I knew I could get them. 😊

I asked to keep my port. They wouldn’t let me, but they did take a picture of it that I can keep 😊

I have a plate and 7screws from an ulnar shortening osteotomy. They’re finally getting removed in 10 days. I’m definitely asking for hardware to keep- something visible that caused so much pain and suffering for 2 years

I asked for my old deep brain stimulator battery and I was told no. Not for sure why. Lol!

I've got a precice nail (yes, that is spelled right) laying around that was used to lengthen one of my legs. Pretty interesting piece of hardware

I was 14 when my tonsils were removed in 1981. I asked to keep them - and they brought them to me in a plastic container with a lid filled with formaldehyde.

The first thing I asked when I came out of surgery was if I could keep my tonsils. When they said no I started to tear up😂

A young Native American was impaled by a rake through the front to back. Fortunately it only pierced the little girl and didn't get any organs. This happened like 50yrs ago after a accident with a truck she was riding in the back that's where the rake was. She slept with it under her bed😮

I wanted my knee (after a total replacement) but was told it had to be cut up and sent to pathology.😂

Lol. I was shown a video of my surgery. I really didn't want to see. I saw some fat and said couldn't you have taken that out since you were already in there. I can't complain though. I have virtually no scars because he cared. He is THE gallbladder Dr in my town. I've sent him 3 referrals since 2009😀

I would... 😅. Or at least pictures! Didn't get either though... 😔

I got my teeth after extraction in sterile bag 😊

I just want my wisdom teeth when they are removed! Each time my mother had a tooth removed they kept it agenst her will, I should have smoggled the last one after paying almost $500! 🤦‍♀️😭🤣

Just give the people their parts back 😂

I would have liked to have seen the calculi that were obstructing my ureter, but then they were blasted with laser so all that was left was tiny particles. Looking at them on a c-t image is one thing. In real life is something else.

Nope.. I just want to forget and hope I never have to return

Nurse's little son had his tonsils out and wanted to see them. They put them in a jar, friend showed them to him. He covered his eyes and yelled take them away!

Oh HELL NO!

I wanted to see my hip bones during the surgeries, but I have absolutely no recollection whatsoever. They must have heavily sedated me. I woke on the bed after being transferred off the table, before being wheeled into recovery. I could feel my feet almost immediately.

My sister just had a knee replacement a week ago. I would have loved to see what they took out.

My daughter had me ask my Dr for my uterus after my hysterectomy. She said hey, I used to live there! 😂

Yes, i would lol 😂 but idk what souvenir I could request with the types of surgeries I've had. Gosh maybe I should have asked for the cancerous tumor they removed from my kidney😂

I’ve had the scented oxygen mask they used given to me after surgery. I had been meaning to ask the anaesthesiologist if I could keep it (I don’t really know why I wanted it, but I did) however I was too nervous to ask…. Turns out Dr kept it for me anyway 😂

My beloved Dad asked the surgeon for my gallstones He obliged 😀

I have a rare metabolic disorder (defective inherited gene... not a mansion or money😢) called Cystiene Urea. Causes coral like stones which rip urinary tract and kidneys to ribbons. In last 12 months I have passed 34 smallish (😳) stones. I keep them in a sample bottle as a Dr at a different hospital, ridiculed me saying you have munchausen not cystiene urea 'its too rare'. Hmmmm... I was 59.. lifted my shirt and asked if 14 yr old girls with munchausen could do an open partial nephrectomy themselves in 1974?? Or the other 7 magor surgeries since?? A consultant and 7 Dr's jaws hit the desk.😂 But STILL said "who told you that" so I replied "now retired Professor Gerry Coles" there mouths flapped like just caught COD!... I will only go to our Capital City hospital ive been under 45yrs.. so yeh that sample bottle is ALWAYS in my bag.😂😂😂

I mean... If you indeed made that stone and you want to actually see that damn torturer mineral to finally look at them in the eyes... 😅😂

I have a cyst on my left ovary, and I asked my Dr to wait to examine it so I can see what's inside, too. I don't want any of it, but I'm really interested in seeing what's been growing inside me for so many years. Teeth? Hair? An eyeball, maybe? LOL 😅

Working in contraception and sexual health: there's a surprisingly high number of women who ask to keep their removed IUD (coil).... There was an urban myth of a patient who wanted to use hers in some artwork.... 😂

My husband wanted me to eat my placenta... so I immediately donated it to the hospital. They can have that ish.

After my gallbladder removal, they showed me the stones. I don’t think I kept them? But I remember what was said. After having the worst pain in my life to that point, they said: “There are a lot of them but they’re pretty small. I don’t believe they caused you so much pain.” 😠

When you take a car to the mechanic, they give you your old part when they put the new one in.

Would it be weird to ask for a removed kidney ? 😮

yes, if i made it 😠 its mine

Darn, forgot to ask my cancer surgeon for the tumor. 😂

Yes, i asked for my chemo port

I asked if i could keep my testicle that they removed. I was told hell no.

My cousin made earrings and a necklace of her gall stones! 😣

I wanted my tumor. But I was too afraid to ask

I have my titanium plates and screws.

I wanted a gallstone but there was so much sludge in my gall bladder as well that my surgeon didn’t dare extract one

My surgeon took my endometriosis pick as there's a camera on the endoscope. Also my uterus n fallopian tubes pre n post removal. I LOVE these photos. I haz egg yolks on my guts! It's (healthy) blobs of fat and they look so funny. I'll ask for a video should I need surgery again. Might try asking for the Colonoscopy & Gastroscopy 🤩. I'll be asleep but I wanna see after, if possible!

Why not? It’s fascinating how our body works!!! I’m surprised that as a doctor you’re grossed out. You’re human too, I suppose.

YES I wanted my gallstones! But then I forgot to ask.

If you are amputated, do you get to keep the limb?

i had gastric sleeve surgery and when i woke up from the anesthesia i started crying asking where my stomach was and after they showed it to me i asked to keep it 😩😩😩

Im fascinated by it all, i want it 😅

Yes, I want it! I want to see it , yes , I want too. And why not?

How often are such "stones" surgically removed intact, versus phacoemulsified with ultrasound to make removal less invasive?

Could I get my brain tumour back? What does the hospital do with it?

I’m 8 weeks PO VSG… I wanted my stomach but it had to be sent to pathology

Help me doc, they are making it so hard for me to get my testicles back after my gender affirming orchiectomy. They said they have to chop them up and then I have to find a funeral home to go through. But they are for gender affirming care, how can I get them back whole? Thx