9781422273470

current, valid medical license in a U.S. state or Canadian province. Forensic pathology interns and residents train under qualified forensic pathologists and complete a graduate education program in a pathology subspecialty. A Day in the Life of a Forensic Pathologist Dr. Judy Melinek has been a forensic pathologist for over sixteen years. She is the co-author of a book about her experiences in the New York Medical Examiner’s office, entitled Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner . Dr. Melinek wrote the book together with her husband, T.J. Mitchell, a professional writer. She started her career in medicine as a surgeon but decided to switch to being a medical examiner because of the long and difficult hours required for her surgical internship. Being a medical examiner allowed her to have more flexible hours. On a typical day, Dr. Melinek gets to her office around 8:30 a.m. She meets with her colleagues and reviews reports from crime scene investigators. The reports describe the details surrounding the deaths of people from the previous day. Her office can sometimes certify the cause and manner of death without an autopsy, depending on the report and the situation. Autopsies are performed between 9:00 a.m. and noon, and Melinek and her colleagues prepare reports in the afternoon. A few times a month, the pathologists will leave the morgue to work with police investigators to determine whether a case is a homicide or another manner of death. Dr. Melinek is both a medical examiner working for her local government and the owner and operator of her own company that provides private forensic consulting. She works about three days a week in the coroner’s office and morgue and provides private consulting during the other days. She can work anywhere between twenty and forty hours per week, depending on the demand for her expertise. Dr. Melinek says that curiosity and a desire to learn are at the heart of her career. Forensic pathologists have to stay on top of many different fields of medicine and crime scene investigation. They need to be problem solvers and should be willing to follow up on their investigations, no matter where they lead. Dr. Melinek told aspiring doctors, “One thing I love about forensic pathology is that, compared with other medical specialties, we doctors can ‘have a life’ and still be able to meet the expectations of our job.”

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Pathology