Finished up my rotation at the Medical Examiner's office this week and without a doubt that was the fastest rotation yet. How can it be over already. To summarize my 4 weeks of dealing with the dead.... (I hope you understand the absence of photos)
I was surprised at the number of suicides that came through our office. The medical examiner investigates "sudden and unexpected" death. So even if a suicide note is left, an autopsy is performed. (On average 1 out of every 10 suicides is a homicide...but I don't have a scientific source for that, I just heard it.) If I had to guess the reason for my surprise is that suicide is a taboo subject. Families aren't proud of it, don't want to claim it, and definitely don't want to talk about it. Even in the office we didn't talk about it...it was just another body to autopsy. But I can't get past the evident lack of hope infecting and festering among the people today. How and why could they possibly have believed there was no other way? I saw gunshot wounds to the head, a shotgun to the head (beyond messy), suicide by electrocution, chemical asphyxia via carbon monoxide and perhaps most surprising (besides the electrocution) a high number of hangings.
I had the opportunity to leave the office on two separate occasions with the investigator and venture into the realm of "crime scene investigation." Neither case were anything exciting, nor were autopsies performed on either of the bodies we picked up. The first, an old lady died in her sleep. The second, an uncle had tried to visit a niece who hadn't been seen in two weeks. For that particular one we were in the projects which didn't smell too nice to start with and then the body on top of that!! Let's just say I was thankful that the detective assigned to the case was willing to get down and dirty instead of staying outside of the door like most of them do, saved me from having to...and I wasn't gonna argue with that!
I had the opportunity to accompany the chief ME once to the county courthouse in White Plains, NY as she was called to give her expert testimony in a homicide case. She had performed the autopsy on the victim. Probably won't be my last time in a courtroom unfortunately, but was the first time I got to see in person how the game is played. Two opposing teams and the lawyers are at their best...the courtroom, that's their playing field; and the rest of us, just pawns to be moved/pushed around to their choosing. From the stand Dr. Ashar could tell that I had gotten bored....but I couldn't help it. The process just moved soooooo sslllooooowwwllllyyy.
The one thing I am happy about with the ending of this rotation...now, when someone asks me what I've been doing I won't be met with awkwardness and hesitation when I tell them. You'd think my ears would start spinning or something when I'd say the word "autopsy" by the wide-eyed tongue-tied responses it would cause.
Hasta!
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