What Happens to Blood During the Embalming Process?

The embalming process is designed to keep the body preserved until the funeral, but how exactly does it work and what happens to bodily fluids like blood? Get the gory details in this HowStuffWorks podcast.

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Episode Transcript

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brain Stuff today for details. High and Marshall brain a

(00:43):
listener wrote in with a question this week, and it's
perfect for Halloween. The question is what happens to a
person's blood when they are embalmed, which gets into the
whole topic of embalming in general and how it works. Now,
this is not the subject for the week of stomach
and if you're weak of stomach, please stop listening now

(01:05):
and avoid the upcoming grossness. If you don't mind it.
Here we go. The general idea behind embalming is pretty simple.
You want to fill a body with enough preservatives so
that it doesn't start rotting or bloating or smelling before
the funeral. There are two steps to the process. The
first step is to pump embalming fluid through the circulatory

(01:27):
system of the body. The embalming fluid is normally formaldehyde
with some dyes and perfumes added. There's an embalming machine
that pumps the fluid in. The mortician will cut open
one of the major arteries to run a tube from
the embalming machine into the artery. The mortician will also
attach a tube to one of the major veins to

(01:48):
let blood and embalming fluid run out. All the blood
flushed out during this process goes into the sewer system.
There's nothing special done with it. Embalming fluid preserves the
skin in the muscles. So the second part of the
embolming process is major organs like the stomach and testines, etcetera,
in the abdomen and the thorax. They have to be

(02:09):
handled separately because they're filled with partly digested food and bacteria,
and if they're left by themselves they'll bloat. The basic
idea is to use a section to fitted with blades
to cut open the organs and suck everything out. Then
the abdomen is filled with embolming fluid. Once this process

(02:30):
is complete, the body will last. It's dressed quoift, made
up to look realistic, and arranged in the casket for
presentation at the funeral. Do you have any ideas or
suggestions for this podcast? If so, please send me an
email at podcast at how stuff works dot com. For
more on this and thousands of other topics, go to
how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is sponsored by

(02:54):
Harry's dot com. Get a great shaving experience for a
fraction of the price. The quality of the shave is
so important that Harry's purchase the factory that makes their
blades fifteen dollars gets you a set that includes a handle,
three blades, and shave cream. Go to Harry's dot com
use the code brain stuff to save five dollars off
your first purchase.