I'm a forensic pathologist - AMA

[slightlybrownbanana]

I do autopsies every week on a range of different type of deaths, not just homicides. People are often fascinated when I tell them what I do and it is very interesting but not like on the telly.

[Amberheartkitty]

How did you get into the job? Was it what you wanted to do? How long was training?
What is different to tv?

[Bloomburger]

What the most obvious abuse of the human body you see when carrying out your work? Smoking, drinking, over eating? What make you think, shit, they should have made much better choices?

[Historydweeb]

Does the smell of death linger on you? Might sound a weird question but it's a pungent smell once decomposition has set in. Surely even after a shower at a microbiological level there must still be traces of it

[BlueMerchant]

How do you go home and unwind?

[nonameslefthere]

On behalf of DD1 who would like to become one - what's the career path?

On behalf of me - do you live an exemplary and super healthy life as a result of seeing what we do to our bodies?

[slightlybrownbanana]

How did you get into the job? Was it what you wanted to do? How long was training? What is different to tv?

I always wanted to be a doctor and as a teenager the forensic pathologists on tv drama seemed so cool. So I went to the school library (the olden days before the internet) and looked up in a careers guide how you become a forensic pathologist. It said you had to train in medicine first so I just thought "oh well I'm already going to be a doctor so I'll just do that". As you do. So yes I always wanted to do it but training was long (5 years at medical school, 1 year as a house officer, 3.5 years in general pathology, 5 years in forensic pathology before I became a consultant) and hard but worth it I think.

The TV dramas always show the forensic pathologists getting involved in the investigation of the crime! In real life we leave that to the Police. We do the post mortem, tell them our findings, write the report (once we have all additional investigations back such as toxicology) and then that is usually it unless we have to go to court to give evidence which can be years later.

[slightlybrownbanana]

What the most obvious abuse of the human body you see when carrying out your work? Smoking, drinking, over eating? What make you think, shit, they should have made much better choices?

Its probably smoking causing early heart disease, but I also see a lot of alcoholics with fatty/scarred livers and drug abusers with all sorts wrong with them (or just young people who look perfectly healthy but have a shed load of heroin/cocaine etc etc inside them). I see far too many hangings (and other suicides), as the end result of not looking after the person's mental health I guess. I don't really notice obesity unless it is at the far end of the scale (20 stone plus dependent on height). Super obese people often have massive hearts where the heart muscle has grown in size to pump blood to all their body mass. Having an enlarged heart is a risk factor for sudden death via a cardiac arrhythmia (disturbance of the electrical conduction through the heart muscle.

[slightlybrownbanana]

Does the smell of death linger on you? Might sound a weird question but it's a pungent smell once decomposition has set in. Surely even after a shower at a microbiological level there must still be traces of it

I don't think it lingers so that others can smell it, but it stays in your nostrils so you keep smelling sometimes - maybe it is imagined. You grow more tolerant of bad smells but still have a disgust mechanism - you just learn to control it better than the average person I would think.

[slightlybrownbanana]

How do you go home and unwind?

I play with my kids, watch TV dramas and drink too much wine

[slightlybrownbanana]

On behalf of DD1 who would like to become one - what's the career path?

On behalf of me - do you live an exemplary and super healthy life as a result of seeing what we do to our bodies?

Your DD needs to get into medical school and then after finishing and doing her foundation year placements apply for histopathology training. She will then need to switch to forensic pathology training and the posts are very limited and competitive (but lots of medical specialities are like that).

www.rcpath.org/trainees/training/recruitment-into-pathology.html

I wish I could say I do live a super healthy lifestyle! I try to exercise and watch what I eat but as I said above drink a bit too much...

[HollowTalk]

@slightlybrownbanana, I've just sent you a message.

[greyest]

What an interesting AMA, thank you for doing it!

[slightlybrownbanana]

greyest - you're welcome

[MrsJackRackham]

Do you watch Autopsy? And if so do you reach the same conclusion? It's one of my favourite programs (as was Quincy back in the day )

[slightlybrownbanana]

No I've not seen Autopsy, I believe it's an American TV show? They have slightly different practices over there (and certain see a lot more gun shot wounds than we do)

[PalindromicUser]

I only want to say that I’m dead jealous because that’s exactly what I wanted to do when I was a teenager but my maths and science weren’t strong enough for medical school

I would still love to have been a doctor but I think (lottery wins etc aside) that ship has sailed. I’m not doing so badly as a banking lawyer!

[Melassa]

Oh how interesting! DD is interested in this as a career choice, although hers veers more towards the forensic anthropologist à la Bones. Is the career path the that the same, with the added speciality at the end? Or is it part and parcel of a “regular” forensic pathologist’s job?

[greenelephantscarf]

very interesting ama

do you get many 'regular' deaths?
my gran died at home and was referred to pathology by the gp who signed the death certificate (different country). I was shocked to hear that only a tiny proportion goes for a post mortem examination. there must be some murders that will never be recorded correctly.

[MrsGrannyWeatherwax]

Do you feel you’ve become less sympathetic towards minor injuries when you must see some horrible human inflicted pain?

And I’ve always wanted to know, can you completely separate your emotions if you see a mother / child and not feel sorry or affected? (I’m struggling to control my feelings now I’ve got a child to leave behind)

[ConstanzaAndSalieri]

What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job? And what do you dread doing?

[Flyinga]

Have you ever examined brutal murder cases?
Do you find yourself examining a lot of victims of DV and how does that make you feel about the ferocity of DV?

[Flyinga]

And one more question, do you ever feel sad, for say children/babies?

[Flyinga]

How often do you have a presumed cause of death and then discover a completely different cause?

[olderthanyouthink]

Weirdest tattoo and piercing you've come across?