what offices produce solid FPs in your experience (ok I know its person dependent but good programs really have to help)?? Should they be big cities like nyc, chicago, miami or historic programs like baltimore or new mexico or newer programs with structure and support like connecticut, georgia or austin or academic ones like UAB or wake forest, just don’t want to make a bad decision for a critical year, thanks!

So, like the title says, i’m an intern at an MEs office and I absolutely LOVE it. I’ve known for a while I went to pursue forensics pathology so this is great. That being said, I have two questions

1. Any tips on breaking rigor? I can’t seem to get a good technique/hang of it.
2. How do you not see death everywhere? I feel overly aware and a panicky

My dad passed recently and we received autopsy results. He was in a wreck and passed 6 weeks later. He also had been battling repeated pneumonia and had a lot of other health problems. (He was recovered from pneumonia to our knowledge.) However, the autopsy cause of death just states “complications from recent blunt force trauma”. He simply collapsed at home and couldn’t be resuscitated by emergency responders. He had a lot of health issues and I know his body was just struggling, but I’m having a hard time understanding what that means. I guess I expected to see stroke or heart attack etc considering he just collapsed and I can’t wrap my head around what exactly the “complications” were. It seems so vague and after reading the autopsy I don’t see anything that’s more specific than that. It just lists issues that for the most part we already knew about. We did the autopsy wanting answers and while I feel like it ruled out some things, I also feel like it didn’t exactly give us an answer.

I’m just confused because it sounds pretty rare for a wreck to be a cause of death so many weeks later and I’m just trying to understand what happened? I know it’s hard to give specifics without the actual autopsy, but I would just appreciate some general ideas of what that could mean to help me understand.

If you’re doing an autopsy on a pregnant person, do you usually know before? Like, if a person dies with a bun in the oven, do you leave it in there until the autopsy or is it removed (assuming it wasn’t far enough along to save)? What if it’s still a zygote? What’s the protocol for each trimester?

Has anyone found or can suggest user-friendly software for creating digital body diagrams? Particularly a 3D option with the ability to place trajectory arrows, etc.? I have Windows and Linux boxes, and Android tablets, but no Apple heresy at present, FWIW.

(The state I currently work in has a fairly recent ruling which functionally eliminates most autopsy photos of injuries -- basically, if the defense stipulates to the wounds, then if they object to any photo of a wound it cannot be shown to the jury. While I think 3D imagery could be useful *anyway*, diagrams in general may be the only way we can visually show juries anything useful unless/until that ruling gets overturned. Alas, if a digital diagram is not reasonably easy to do, it's probably not happening, just my current old-school scribbles on the traditional diagrams. As Bones might say, "I'm a doctor dammit, not a graphic artist!" But props to graphic artists.)

I'm aware of Blender, which has a lot of capability but the learning curve appears steep and I'm not as eager to spend the hours on it that I might have in my youth. At one point I played around with I think Microsoft's 3D Paint but it appears they have retired it and I'm not seeing a replacement; my recollection is that it was close, but not great for things like trajectory arrows...which are kinda a big deal.

Are there any typical or atypical medicine-related side hustles to supplement income as a FP? If not, how common is it to diversify an investment portfolio (real estate, stocks, etc) to make $300k+ year total with FP base salary?

Hi! im 14, and ive wanted to be a forensic pathologist for a while. when i was 8 i decided i wanted to be a mortician and that stuck for a while but my opinions changed last year and i think forensic pathology is what i'll want to do in the future.

Its my first year of high school and im wondering what classes i should be taking. biology im assuming, but is there anything else i'll need? and since im hoping to start with college savings soon, what will i need to do after graduation?

Is it possible for someone to die from strangulation without the hyoid bone being broken and there being no visible signs of injury? The body in question was in an advanced state of decomposition (greenish discoloration, bloating, excessive maggot infiltration, generalized skin slippage, etc. I can't make out the rest of the report.) but there was no evidence of injury.

I read a newsletter from 2014 called Domestic Violence Report where it talked about a case from that year where a nurse with specialize training in domestic violence and strangulation testified that a lack of visible injury isn't uncommon in victims of strangulation, but I can't seem to find if that applies to people who died in this manner.

Also, along these lines. If someone is strangled until they are unconscious but not deceased, but die within a short period of time afterwards are they likely to not have any indication of injury?

Thank you in advance for your knowledge. I appreciate everyone's help in answering my questions.

I think I really need to make some friends in the forensic pathology department so I don't feel like I'm bothering everyone here with my mundane questions.

So in late August of this year my brother died. We thought it was from suicide as someone had a picture of the place it happened with the rope cut from where they cut him down. The investigator told my mom that he had a very small trace amount of meth in his system. When we received the death certificate though it said accidental death from meth intoxication, didn't mention anything about it being suicide. Can anyone offer up advice? I think somethings being covered up.

Hi all,

Can someone help me understand gunshot residue and transfer please? Would assisting a victim in stopping bleeding (placed finger in hole) after finding the victim wounded be consistent with these findings? Thank you in advance!

Weapon used was Taurus Model 669 .357 Revolver.
The swabs of the left hand, and the palm of the right hand showed the presence of antimony and barium.

FBI Lab 1995:

Significant amounts of antimony and barium were detected on the swabs from the hands of XXX. These finding are consistent with XXX being in an enviroment of gunshot primer residue. This enviroment of gunshot primer residue includes: 1) discharging a firearm; 2) Being in the vicinity of a discharging forearm; or 3) handling comtaminated objects such as a recently disaharged firearm or ammunition components. No amounts of antimony or barium contamination were detected on control swabs

If someone was being slowly poisoned with an organophosphate or similar toxin, what might you find in their autopsy report? Toxicology was not done and foul play wasnt suspected at the time but I’m curious if anything would be obvious in the autopsy if they were in fact poisoned. Official cause of death was - cardiac arrest, respiratory failure, acidosis, status asthmaticus. Odd question, I know. I’m looking into the death of a loved one. It happened over 20yrs ago. TIA

Sorry if I'm in the wrong sub, but I'm not sure where else to ask! I am a 16 y/o teen girl with a very big interest and love for the human body. I'm not a necrophiliac, I just think our bodies and everything inside it is fascinating. However, I'm scared to work inside a hospital and with alive people in general (I'm not very social, and I don't want to accidentally kill someone.) So, my only option is to deal with dead folks. I would really like to do autopsies, and everything similar/in between; just as long as I get to see and examine EVERYTHING, I'm happy. I don't want to be a mortician, because they only dress up the body. So far forensic pathology seems like my only option, but I'm curious about other jobs involving this stuff. Does anyone here know any other jobs that are good for me?

Hello, I am currently researching a cold case involving the body of a young woman (24) that was found in the trunk of a vehicle in 1985. The body was decomposed to the point where dental records were used to identify the body, yet the estimated time of death was only two days prior. I am wondering as to how accurate this estimation could be. The young woman's body was said to be so badly decomposed that the cause of death couldn't be identified.

I looked at the weather and temperatures in the location where she was found for around the time she was found and the temperature ranged from 73 to 91. There was also thunderstorms in the area the day she was found and for two or three days preceding her body being found.

I know that there is a multitude of things that affect the rate of decomposition, but could a body really decompose that badly in just two days?

So the thing is... I am a med student and I have just had my forensic medicine rotation (which I hated lol). Before all, I won't be asking for medical advice but I am rather curious if my shoes have been contaminated or not.

For one day of the rotation, I had to be in the autopsy room while several autopsies (at least 4) being performed at the same time. Well, they didn't have enough boots for everyone to wear so most of us had to use overshoes (the plastic cover you put over your shoes) so they wouldn't be contaminated by all the blood-mixed water puddles on the floor (the floor was very damp because they use a lot of water while performing the autopsy) BUT unfortunately the plastic covers didn't last long and they just got ripped off from my shoes which made me walk in the autopsy field with bare shoes until I got out and changed them new. Once I hit home I immediately put them in some corner and never wore or touched them for 2 weeks.

So my question is, should I just get rid of the shoes? Knowing that prion proteins are very resistant against stuff like heat and soap gets me worried a bit about wearing them again lol

What cool advanced forensic technology are you using in practice or that you are excited about?

I'm a forensic nurse current in graduate school. I have one more discussion post to write this semester about new technology used in healthcare. I could write about any recent healthcare technology but I would prefer to write about something I'm interest in. Right now I'm leaning towards the Randox toxicology machine because my state crime lab recently bought one.

Thank you!

OK, I feel like I’m going crazy. My brother was found dead in October after about 4-5 days in there. We even had to hire a company to do bio remediation stuff. The smell is something I will never forget and it permeated everything. I’m just saying that I KNOW that smell. I dog sit for my mother-in-law and this morning when she brought her pup over she smelled like that!!!! I know it was her. I smelled it as soon as she walked in and I stepped away from her because I thought maybe I was just going crazy, but I still just wanted to get away from it. Then when she left, I hugged her and it smelled like it on her or her clothes or something! It was not the dog. It was definitely her. And definitely that smell. I was just around her yesterday and she always smells totally normal and clean and nice and her house is clean. Why in the world would a living person smell like that? Especially if she is normally clean and it just happened very suddenly. She has never smelled that way before EVER. Is it even possible for a living person to smell that way and if so, why??? How? She just left like 30 minutes ago and I am absolutely freaking out. 

Reaching out here as it is a bit of an odd one. Was doing an autopsy today on 26F who had died while in Japan. Japanese coroners already examined the body and embalmed it. Our investigation is to confirm for the parents and rule out any foul play. When we removed the bagged organs they looked as if they had been put through a blender, everything in dozens of pieces. Does anyone here know if this is standard procedure in Japan (or anywhere) as we struggle to see any logic in this.

I'm in year 10 (going into year 11 now) and don't really know what I want to do yet. I really am intrigued by forensic pathology and want to know if there's any textbooks/ books/pdfs for beginners which I could read for fun. Any suggestions?

Heyy, I’m currently about to start my bachelors finishing up my associates with a certificate as an Autopsy Assistant. I would really love to work in the morgue and continue school in that direction but the closest Pathologist Assistant program is a hour away, so as of lately I’ve been debating on making that drive back and forth or just going to my school for the Physician Assistant program. I was wondering if I were to do the physician assistant program could I possibly still become a pathologist assistant or find myself still able to work in the morgue?

Hello! Sorry if the wording of this post is a bit scattered, my brain is everywhere at the moment. I wanted to ask what are some professional/respectful questions I can ask to get to know the field a bit better? I have a meeting with a medical examiner in a couple of weeks, where I will be inquiring further about the field. And I just wanted to see if there were any professional questions that maybe I didn't think of. Or do you think this is a good list of questions? I recently changed majors from Early Childhood Education into a Biology transfer pathway to get an M.D. eventually for Forensic Pathology. Here is the list of questions I am thinking of so far:

• What do you think is something a student should know about before fully committing to this kind of field?
• What would you consider the most difficult/rewarding part of what you currently do? (to get an idea for what parts of the job may be more difficult or what might motivate me in tough moments).
• Do you think it would be beneficial to minor in Forensic Sciences for this field, or do you think it is covered in other aspects of med school or fellowship/residency? (I have a place in mind that has a minor in forensic sciences, so I'm just curious about this one)
• What piece of advice would you go back and give to yourself in med school? (to get an idea for what I might need to prepare for).
• What was the most challenging part of getting where you are now? (again, preparation purposes).

And I think that is where I draw a bit of a blank for now. I might think of more later, but I would love to have your opinions on what would be good to ask. Or if you wanted to respond to the questions that would be fine too, the more input the better in my opinion.

Hello! I have been looking into a lot of different internships lately in regards to being in a morgue and working towards my career as a Forensic Pathologist. I am reading that a lot of places require good hearing, and that’s where my worry comes in. I am hard of hearing, and especially cannot understand anything when someone is wearing a mask. I tend to read lips as people talk so I can get by, but with masks, it proves to be a difficult task. My question is will I be successful as a Medical Examiner even though I have a lack of hearing? I am moderately deaf with a harder time in lower frequency’s/tone. My other question is, if I am honest with my lack of hearing, will I still be able to land an internship in a morgue? I just can’t fathom the possibility of my hard of hearing interfering with my journey.

Kindly, throw light on the issue.

I am a pathology resident considering different sub-specialties. I like the nature of forensic path but was wondering the geographic flexibility of the field.

I was told that job postings are regularly on NAME (https://www.thename.org/employment-opportunities). But looking at their list, there are a lot of major US cities not on there. If for example I am interested in living in Washington DC/NOVA, will that not be an option for forensics? Are there job postings not on the NAME website? Thanks.

Some context: I am a third year medical student. I started clinical rotations in July of this year. My school has an unfortunate schedule set in stone for all students. Because of this, I will not be able to rotate through any of the three specialties that I am interested in before applying for residency. This means that the decision for my future career depends entirely upon my experiences from shadowing these different specialties in my free time. Forensic pathology is at the top of my list for potential career options. It is the only field of medicine that I have researched extensively in my free time. I enjoy learning about forensics and I have always had a bit of a morbid curiosity by nature. I shadowed a medical examiner for a total of 3 days. I loved every shift. My concerns in no particular order:

1. compared to emergency medicine and anesthesia, (my other interests,) forensic pathologists make approximately half the salary in my state. I have a family, and I need to be absolutely sure about my decision before I choose to half my salary.

2. Forensic pathologists do not ever interact with patients. I sometimes wonder if this would bother me or not. I have no experience in a medical specialty that does not speak with patients. I am actually generally good with patients. When I have told my various rotation preceptors that I am interested in pathology, several of them have chuckled and said, “but you are too good with people!” I don’t think I’m anything special; I think they are implying that only socially awkward people do pathology. The few medical examiners I have met in real life were very good with people and completely socially normal… so I don’t really know why people keep saying this to me. Just a weird stereotype I suppose.

3. I worry about AP/CP residency. I have struggled greatly to find a surgical pathologist to allow me to shadow them. I have reached out to multiple surgical pathologists from different groups for shadowing opportunities. Unfortunately, none of them have been willing to have me around for a shift. One time, one of them gave me a tour of the lab and then said, “okay, thanks for stopping by!”

I didn’t despise histology like some of my classmates in medical school, but it wasn’t my favorite topic by any means. I worry that I would match into pathology only to discover that I absolutely hate the day-to-day of AP/CP. That would be 4 miserable years to tolerate until I attempt to match into a fellowship. Then again, maybe I would love AP/CP? There is no way for me to know at the moment. I guess these are my three big concerns about choosing forensic pathology. I would love to hear your guys’ thoughts. Happy to answer any questions to clarify things as well.

P.S. I have listened to Dr. Erik Handberg’s podcast episodes more than once. They are fantastic.