This paper considers the overlapping medical, cultural, and moral discourses surrounding a ‘public autopsy’ conducted by Gunter von Hagens in London, 2001. It is argued that a traditional medical ethical analysis of this event misrepresents and conflates the diverse issues arising from the autopsy. The critique is based upon an analysis of Channel 4’s edited broadcast, from which it is argued that the assumed ethical issues arising from the event are necessarily related to the way in which the media tends to portray science issues and the fashionable tendency to make television hyperreal. The paper questions what constitutes ‘expert’ opinion on the autopsy and argues that the dichotomy of ‘education’ or ‘entertainment’ was a misleading way of evaluating the public autopsy. Additionally, the paper discusses the extent to which one can accept the artistic value of the autopsy specifically and von Hagens’ ‘BodyWorlds’ exhibits in general, as a basis for justifying the use of (parts of) bodies in a commercial enterprise. In conclusion, it is argued that a socio-bioethical approach, more carefully aligned with the social significance and understanding of the body and being human can more accurately articulate the complex moral issues arising from the public nature of the autopsy.