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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2019

From an Anatomical Piece to an Almost Child”: the pictures of dead foetuses in France

Résumé

In the Summer 2005, the discovery of 351 stillborn and dead foetuses’ bodies kept in the death chamber of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul hospital in Paris created a huge scandal in France. Whereas collections of dead foetuses preserved in jars were very common in the 19th century1, the situation had changed. It was a shock for many people. The hospital received numerous calls from parents, an investigation started, and the collection was removed. This case reveals the transformation of sensibilities and practices around foetal death since the 1980-1990s in France, and Europe in general. Biomedical imaging technologies contributes to see the foetus earlier and earlier as a child-to-be. As a result, the dead “foetus” seen as “waste” or as a “collection piece” has become disturbing. In response, professionals have started to develop new rituals and practices, which changed the law. They resist the association of the dead foetus to an “anatomical waste”, by the possibility to dress it as a baby, name it, bury it, and inscribe it in the civil register and the family record book. Professionals have also started to take pictures of the dead foetus for bereaved parents as a support for memory and grieving, different from those usually taken for autopsies. Where medical pictures show the foetus naked, malformations visible, with crude lights, and only circulate in the medical field for medical purposes, these pictures show the foetus as a sleeping child, dressed, malformation hidden by clothes. Bereaved parents used them in their grieving practices, shared them among the family, friends, public collective remembrance ceremonies and on Internet. It contributes to the growing dissemination of the dead foetus’ specific figure, at earlier and earlier stages, in another field than the medical one. These pictures and the practice developed in hospital reveal the change of the foetus’ status, from “anatomical piece” to “an almost child”. 1.Morgan, L. M. Icons of life: a cultural history of human embryos. (University of California Press, 2009). 2.Isaacson, N. The ‘Fetus-Infant’: changing classifications of ‘in utero’ development in medical texts. Sociological forum 11, 457–480 (1996).

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Dates et versions

hal-02919001 , version 1 (21-08-2020)

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  • HAL Id : hal-02919001 , version 1

Citer

Anne-Sophie Giraud. From an Anatomical Piece to an Almost Child”: the pictures of dead foetuses in France. The Coming Age of the Public Fetus. Exploring Pregnant and Fetal Bodies in Visual Culture, Elisabeth Björklund; Helena Franzén, May 2019, Uppsala, Sweden. ⟨hal-02919001⟩
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