r/ForensicPathology

Hello friends and neighbors. We need to demand a better system when it comes to the Idaho death investigation statute. Currently, every one of Idaho's 44 counties elects a county coroner. Their experience ranges from being the town barber to being Certified Medicolegal death investigators, but the current law is not specific as to qualifications and has no teeth in requiring them to be trained or any consequences for non compliance. It is the equivalent of electing a sheriff who never worked in law enforcement.

There are a few that are consummate professionals. There are a few who are working hard to change the system. There are a few who are classic Dunning Kruger effect cases of not knowing how much they don't know, and some that willfully resist any attempt to modernize.

Currently Ada county is the only office in the state that has Staff forensic pathologists able to perform autopsies. Nowhere else in the state has the facilities to do this, though it is desperately needed, in East Idaho especially. A 10 hr round trip to have a doctor examine a victim of homicide is absolutely unacceptable.

This is a service none of us ever want to have to have any contact with, but when homicide, suicide, accidents, and unattended deaths occur in our communities, these cases cannot be left to people that are not trained to investigate them. Key signs are missed. Murderers walk free. Public health infrastructure is harmed by inaccurate cause of death data.

Coroners are signing out death certificates without basic medical training, especially in small counties where they have held the office for years and nobody runs against them. When it takes a two day turnaround and long trip to get an autopsy in Boise, they err on the side of signing out a case based on medical records or talking to the family. Literally the purpose of a coroner or medical examiner is to hold the medical system, law enforcement, and the community at large accountable, to make sure people don't slip through the cracks in the system and to identify the cases where they do. Because of all these challenges, Idaho has an abysmal autopsy rate, and we are likely missing vital information.

In states with medical examiner systems, it is a board certified forensic pathologist acting as a chief medical examiner that oversees this vital public health service, not any random individual that can win a popularity based election. This is not an office that should have anything to do with party politics. Politics have no place in what should be a separate, unbiased investigation process that does not turn in any way based on party demands or rhetoric.

For your local coroner election, I implore you to ignore the R and the D and read up on weather your candidates meet even the most basic requirements of this job.

In the long term I hope we can see Idaho adopt a state level medical examiner system that standardizes the expectations for death investigation across all counties, no more 44 different systems with 44 ways of doing things.

Hello!

I am a paramedic who is applying to Med school (pathology) and currently taking pre-req courses to apply to Mc Pathology Assistant in the meantime.

I have my first Medical Examiners Shadow next week and going to be in the Autopsy Suite.

Any advice? What should I review before going so if they ask questions I don’t look like a fool? What should I be worried about or prepare to see?

I am very excited for the day!

Hi everyone. I’m 17 from Texas and I’ve wanted to become a forensic pathologist since I was around 7 years old. This is genuinely my dream career, and I’m finally trying to seriously start pursuing it. I graduated high school early at 15 with a 3.6 GPA. After that, I took a gap year because honestly I felt overwhelmed and didn’t have much support from my parents at the time. Recently they’ve become more supportive, so now I’m trying to get back on track. Right now I’m taking medical billing classes and working toward that certification while figuring out my next steps.
The problem is that I’m really anxious and confused about where to begin. I know forensic pathology requires a very long path through college, medical school, residency, etc., but I would really appreciate advice from people actually in the field.

What steps should I take next starting from where I am now?
What major would you recommend in college?
Is there anything you wish you knew before entering pathology or forensic pathology?
And realistically, what should someone my age focus on first?
What books, shows, documentaries, anatomy kits/models, flashcards, apps, YouTube channels, or other study tools do y’all recommend that I can start using now?

Also, please be as specific as possible with recommendations because I have ADHD and I struggle a lot with vague advice or trying to figure things out without details 😭 Specific names of resources or study methods would seriously help me so much.
Thank you guys for reading. This career means a lot to me, and posting this is honestly my first real step toward the goal!

Hi! I would like to ask what are the best forensic science related courses/ uni for forensic related subjects? I was not able to find a lot of informations on uni major courses on forensic and I am really looking into working in the field. (I like dissection/ lab/ pathology) I am also not sure about what I should write in my personal statement and essay…

After now dropping my anatomy course & rescheduling when I’m going to retake this class I have been thinking if I am even qualified to transfer to my two options regarding university or even if i meet the requirements. I am considering UCLA and Cal State LA. My gpa is a 3.705 at the moment. Besides my W in anatomy all my grades are passing. All A’s and B’s. I plan on passing anatomy with an A as I am beginning to study now up until I retake the course. However I am the first in my family to take college & university seriously so I’m pretty lost.

I feel like my counselor is no help and often ignores my messages. I am taking courses like two Biology courses, two chem courses, admn Justice, one anatomy course & statistics. My counselor advised me to take my other remaining courses when I transfer however I feel like I’m missing something? Of course I am taking my general courses but is there anything else that I need to know to get accepted into a university? Especially the route I want to take?

I’m researching a 1993 death investigation involving a suspected hit-and-run in Maryland and am trying to better understand the forensic/pathology side of older cases from that era.

Without speculating on guilt or identity, I’m hoping professionals here may be able to clarify a few things:

- In the early 1990s, what evidence would typically be collected in a suspected fatal hit-and-run?

- Would tissue, photographs, slides, toxicology, or trace evidence commonly still exist today?

- If records or evidence were later destroyed according to retention schedules, would documentation of that destruction normally remain?

- How often were cases initially classified one way and later reconsidered?

I’m trying to understand procedure and investigative limitations from that time period, not accuse anyone. Any professional insight or direction toward resources would be greatly appreciated.

This is a bit disturbing, I apologize.

My sister was morbidly obese when she died and I’m only mentioning it because of why she died and I’m not sure if it could have had any part in the way her body changed after death.

She died at my mother’s home while in bed 2 or 3 days after weight loss surgery. Congestive heart failure. I believe she suffocated in her own fluids. There was fluid that came out of her mouth all over the pillow.

I saw photos of her. Her face was dark purple and very swollen. She had purple on her chest too and was laying on her side.

They said she died around 5:30 pm that night. It took around 2 or 3 hours for her body to be picked up. The photos were taken in that timeframe.

My mother is convinced she died the day before and she didn’t check on her until that evening. My mother is not mentally sound and should not have been looking after her but I digress.

From the way her body looked, is anyone able to tell me if she was really only dead for a few hours or over 24 hours?

She didn’t reply to a text message I sent her the morning before that and I’ve always thought that was odd.

My mother took these photos and like I said she is NOT mentally well. Unfortunately I stumbled across the photos on her phone while looking for some other ones.

In my few years of occasional casual browsing of the NAME job postings, I have noticed that the vast majority of open positions tend to be in the southern US. Are there just more total positions in these areas? Higher turnover? Do more FPs just love cold weather and never want to leave? Do northern offices all retain their fellows and never advertise their jobs? Feel free to speculate wildly.

Is it possible to work as a forensic tech while studying to become a pathologist?

Hi, I just finished my last year of high school and I’m trying to decide between becoming a Crime Scene Investigator (CSI) or a Forensic Pathologist.

I’m really interested in biology and chemistry, and I’ve actually had the chance to observe autopsies with a friend who works with the police, which I found very interesting. But I'm also interested in fieldwork.

So I’d really appreciate hearing from people who work as CSIs or forensic pathologists to help me decide.

1. What does your typical day look like?

2. What’s the hardest part of your job (especially emotionally)?

3. What did you study?

4. Is there anything you wished you had known before starting?

I’m trying to understand what the work is really like so I can decide between CSI or FP.

Thank you in advance to anyone willing to share their experience.

Currently working on my BA in Biology and interested in working in forensics laboratories. I saw that there is openings for Forensics Technician and would like to know how its like? What do you like & dont like about the job? How easy is to move up the ladder if I decide to continue on getting my Masters in Pathologist Assistant. I would like to work more behind the scenes. Working with dead bodies, collecting samples and determining diseases/causes of death. Not looking forward to going out to the crime scenes or speaking with witnesses or court. Trying to see if this is interesting enough for my ADHD or move towards clinical. TIA