I'm really interested in Forensic Pathology and was wondering what are the best subjects to get started in for the job, and what ones i should focus on the most. (I'm a year 10 student in Australia for some context.) Any reply is helpful!!

(I was advised to post here? I hope that was correct!)

I'm considering a career change into crime scene/trauma/biohazard cleanup. My background is in preclinical lab research and bioarchaeology with some forensic fieldwork, so I've experience with biohazard protocols and have handled human remains before. However, I've never done this particular caliber of work, and I can't find much honest firsthand info online, so I’d like to ask some questions here.

I received some grumpy snark from people who took issue with my asking so many questions on another sub, so I’d like to clear the air that I’m not asking for each commenter to answer every inquiry; anything you wish to impart, I am grateful. So, if you do this work (or used to), I'd genuinely appreciate real answers to any of these:

1. Culture - what is it actually like day to day at your company? Does it match the careers page ad you responded to? Given the wide birth of backgrounds this job likely attracts, how's the camaraderie?
   
2. Work/life balance - I've seen reviews all over the map on this: some places describe hours as totally sporadic/not guaranteed even though you're on-call constantly (how do manage this lol), while others describe a more structured rotating on-call schedule with a predictable base. Which is it where you work, and does it actually hold up in practice?
   
3. How traumatic is this work? Is it the big/gory stuff that gets to people, or something else you didn't expect, like a child's backpack or an uneaten meal?
   
4. Support - does your employer offer any real mental health support (EAP, debriefing after bad calls, anything), or are you mostly on your own to process it? Either way, how do you cope?
   
5. Do you work solo or always with a partner/team? Does that vary by company or job type?
   
6. Is it ever dangerous? Curious about real incidents, not just the textbook OSHA hazard list. I assume sharps will make a mention here.
   
7. What surprised you most about the job once you actually started?
   
8. How long do people usually last? Is this a career people build a long-term life around, or more of a burn-bright-and-leave situation?
   
9. Starting at 35 - am I setting myself up for a repetitive strain injury, or is that overblown if I go in reasonably fit? I use to dig graves, so I'm primed for unique labor, but I'm still going in blind here.

Any insight be it good, bad, or "here's what nobody tells you" is appreciated. Trying to go in with clear eyes rather than just the recruiting-page version. Thanks everyone!

I'm so used to my Reddit posts getting taken down that when I wrote this originally I was expecting it to be up for all of 5 min But since it's still up let me try to articulate the situation more precisely. And I'll keep adding to it as I get further into my research, obtain his death certificate, ETC.

My father was driving a commercial truck when he suffered cardiac arrest. His heart stopped pumping blood, he lost consciousness, and that is why the truck crashed. The crash did not cause the cardiac arrest. The cardiac arrest caused the crash.

After that, he was on the side of the road for about forty minutes without enough oxygen reaching his brain. By the time he got to OakBend, the damage had already been done. He never woke up. He never spoke. He never breathed on his own. He never came back. Machines and medication kept his body functioning for four more days, but my father was already gone in every way that mattered to the people who loved him.

At first, none of the medical staff would give us a straight answer. I was hearing maybe a heart attack, maybe a stroke, maybe heart failure. I was told there had been no brain activity since he arrived. My father’s wife of four years was supposed to come to the hospital on Friday so everyone could sit down with the doctor and finally understand what had happened. She did not show up. I never got that meeting. My brothers nor myself never got the clear explanation we were waiting for.

Early the next morning after his wife didn't show up last minute, my niece texted me that my father was officially gone because his wife had “pulled the plug.” It took me a little bit to start putting things together. I've been doing research and learning about a lot of the stuff everyday so please be patient with me This is not my area of expertise at all. My brothers and I still didn't understand dad's condition, they didn't understand his wife's decision to stop support, or what the doctors believed had actually caused his heart to stop. And that was really irking me.

I directly asked the doctors why is my dad dead and they kept saying we can't violate HIPAA and I kept saying F HIPPA lol. Anyways later on I was able to trick one of the case managers into confirming what I knew which was that he suffered cardiac arrest. As soon as she said it, the conversation changed. She became guarded, told me she could not say much, and said she would speak to a supervisor. She took my information and said someone would follow up. I feel like I've been able to speak with everybody except for my father's treating physician so that's pleasant.

That was when I really started digging, because “cardiac arrest” is not an explanation. It means the heart stopped. It does not tell me why it stopped. It could be a heart problem, an abnormal rhythm, a blood clot, a breathing problem, a medication reaction, a chemical exposure, poisoning, or something else. Confirming that his heart stopped explained why he suddenly lost consciousness and crashed. It did not explain what happened to him. Then I tried to find out where his body was. OakBend sent me to the Fort Bend Medical Examiner’s Office. I called, gave them my father’s information, and waited while an investigator searched. He came back and told me my father had never been reported to their office. He had never been sent there. They had never opened a case. They had never examined him.

I went back to OakBend and kept pushing. Eventually, someone found paperwork showing that my father had been released directly from the hospital to Schmidt Funeral Home. His wife had signed the release. OakBend had sent me to a Medical Examiner who had never received my father while his body was already sitting at a funeral home. What the heck does it mean to find someone's paperwork how how does that even happen?! 🤯

So yes everything was and still is controlled by my father’s wife of four years, OakBend, and the funeral home. OakBend controlled the medical chart, the heart records, the lab work, the brain findings, the death paperwork, and the release records. His wife controlled access to the information, the body, and the funeral arrangements. The funeral home controlled what happened to his remains. I control nothing, it's true. Which this really wouldn't bother me if this woman wasn't guarding my father's medical documents as if my father's health is none of my business. 🧐

OakBend told me to go through his wife for information. She gave me nothing. I called her. I texted her. I emailed her. I asked what happened to my father, where his body was, what the funeral plans were, and whether cremation was being scheduled. She did not answer me. Which by the way she only texted my oldest brother and there's five of us. She won't respond and we're not allowed to go to our dad's house and I don't know just walk around you know? Like I want to be in his space I want to experience his last moments I know that sounds kind of crazy but I do.

Well all of this was just too much for me I was like all right I'm going to get down to the bottom of this. She found out that I was investigating. She found out I was calling people, asking questions, trying to understand why his heart stopped, and saying I wanted an autopsy to understand what caused my dad's heart to stop.

That is when she became angry with me and started telling people not to give me details about the funeral.

I need to be very clear about something. I had never screamed, threatened, or insulted her. Besides I didn't know her long enough lol. I had never caused a scene around her. I might have caused the scene around her a time or two lol. I'm a goofball with a wild soul what can I say lol. I did not particularly like her, but I had never treated her badly or even told her that I did not like her. When we were around each other, we were simply around each other. .

I was not shut out because I had behaved dangerously. I was shut out after I started poking and prodding. While all of that was happening, I politely requested both his lovely wife and Schmidt Funeral Home that I was trying to arrange an indepedent autopsy and that I did not want his body altered before someone had a chance to examine him. I really didn't understand much about autopsies yet I'm telling you this entire field is so new to me.

Yeah well lol they embalmed him anyway. They embalmed him on July 16, nine days before the scheduled viewing. There was time to keep him refrigerated while my request was considered. Instead, they chemically altered his body while they knew I was trying to preserve it for an independent examination. I was then told that cremation would happen after the viewing.

That meant I was racing against a clock nobody would show me. I did not have the exact cremation date. I did not know which crematory would be used. I could not get a written hold. I was trying to preserve my father’s body from California while the people in Texas who had all the authority and all the information kept moving forward without answering me.

So in my research I have learned that Hospitals are not always required to formally determine brain death, even when a person has suffered catastrophic brain damage and is being kept physically functioning by machines. A hospital can keep the body going, later stop the machines, and then record the death after the heart and breathing stop. This is disturbing to me I'm not saying that they need to determine that he's brain dead 5 minutes after he gets rolled in but I am saying that later on when they do determine I guess if they do does that change the timeline? Because that would have sparked a medical examination. My father did not die in the hospital He was unconscious and on the side of the road for 40 minutes I have his crash report and the entire time that he was there He did not have oxygen going to his brain and when EMS got there they were trying to perform CPR. While in the hospital my father never regained consciousness or independent breathing. Yet the official death was recorded four days later at the hospital after the machines were stopped. (Just FYI because I was really suspicious about this from the beginning He was on the side of the road without oxygen because he was in a very rural part of town. So at least that made sense eventually! )

When the hospital does not formally document brain death, the paperwork can center on the later hospital death instead of the original event that destroyed the brain. The story becomes that someone died in a hospital four days after admission, rather than that an unexplained cardiac arrest caused a commercial-truck crash, left him without oxygen long enough to destroy his brain, and started the entire chain of events. That changes what becomes visible. It changes the timeline people focus on. It can affect whether the Medical Examiner gets involved. It can affect who keeps control of medical decisions. It can affect how the death is certified and how quickly the body moves into the funeral system. I have a serious problem with that.

I don't know who benefits from that lax of protocol but It did not benefit my father. He never woke up. He never recovered. He never had another meaningful moment of consciousness. The practical effect was that OakBend kept control of the medical record and the death process, my father’s wife kept control of the decisions and information, and his body moved directly into funeral-home custody without an original Medical Examiner investigation.

I am not saying that proves anyone chose that path for an improper reason. But I am saying the consequences were enormous, and every one of those consequences benefited the people and institutions already controlling the process while leaving his children outside of it.

I have theories. My theories are not proven because I do not have the records that would prove or disprove them. The reason I do not have those records is not because they do not exist. OakBend has them. EMS has them. The funeral home has records. My father’s wife has controlled access to information and decisions. I am being told that I need proof before anyone takes my concerns seriously, while the proof is being held by the same people and institutions whose decisions I am trying to understand. So thats cool!

I am not claiming every theory in my head is already true. I am saying there are too many unanswered facts, too much concentrated control, and too many irreversible decisions for me to pretend this was normal simply because the people controlling the records say the process was routine.

His heart stopped first. The cardiac arrest caused the crash. The lack of oxygen destroyed his brain. He never returned. Everything that happened afterward determined who controlled the records, who controlled his body, what became official, and whether anyone independent would ever examine why his heart stopped.

I'm going to do some more research today. I'm not going to stop until I have answers that make some kind of sense. 😔

Hello everyone!

I’m currently trying to decide between becoming a medical examiner or an autopsy technician. I’m most passionate about expanding my knowledge of human anatomy, and I’d really like a career that’s as hands-on as possible.

I’m already aware of the education and training required for both careers, but I’m curious about the day-to-day work. Which career offers more opportunities to continuously learn while also being more hands-on with the human body?

Hello medical professionals. I am looking for a forensic/radiological opinion on a closed historical case from 1997. This is regarding a deceased family member, and I am purely seeking academic/forensic insights to find closure, not actual medical advice.

**​Background**:

The deceased (Male, 44) was found dead with a severe head injury. The official local police conclusion in 1997 (without a formal autopsy) was that he (being drunk) accidentally fell backward on a straight, 20-step concrete staircase, striking the back/side of his head on the edge of a step.

**​The Anomalies**:

​Medical records and witnesses noted defensive-like puncture/abrasion wounds on his forearm.

​The attached CT bone window scan shows a very localized, circular bone defect (depressed fracture).

**​My Question**:

From a purely biomechanical and radiological perspective, is it possible for a simple backward fall onto a straight concrete stair edge to produce this specific type of localized circular bone defect? Or does this imaging strongly suggest a strike from a dense weapon (like a hammer or sharp blunt object)?

​Any insights into the mechanism of this fracture would be deeply appreciated. Thank you！

pls help me 🥹🩷

Hello everyone, I currently work in healthcare as a respiratory therapist with 18 years experience. I have an AS degree and BS degree in respiratory therapy. I would like to transition to an autopsy tech or medico legal death investigator. Can you provide what education would best set me up for this? Thanks

Hi everyone!

First, I just want to thank this community for all the advice and encouragement over the past few years, from medical school through residency. It is a little surreal that it is finally my turn to apply!

For those who have gone through the process, what factors did you find most important when deciding which programs to apply to or prioritize?

Also, since ERAS opened on July 1, is it important to submit applications to all my programs of interest immediately, or is it generally okay to submit some applications later? I ask because many programs appear to interview as late as in the fall or even early spring.

Thank you again for any guidance!

Like title says, I'm about to start a forensics rotation soon. Wanted to know how I should prepare since there's not alot of resources out there compared to, for example, a surgical subspecialty rotation. Please feel free to add on any extra info if you think I missed something.

• What topics, pathologies, and anatomical structures should I focus on so that I'm familiar with their bread and butter? And which histology tissues should I review? Any pharm?
• Any pimping questions the attendings usually use to abuse challenge med students?
• What are some questions I should ask my attending to get a better/more honest idea of the specialty?
• What are some useful tips/tricks or things I should bring? Especially in regards to handling with smells and avoiding them from sticking onto me (as someone with curlier hair, washing my hair everyday would be so damaging tbh).
• I'm not very familiar with legal jargon (and I'm not even sure if my attending will take me to a court case). What are some legal terms or logistics I should be familiar with? Rotation is in the US.

Some unsolicited med student confessions:

Unfortunately, I haven't done surgical or clinical pathology rotations yet, although they are lined up later in the year. The delay was mostly because of my indecision between declaring plastics vs forensics. I'm still indecisive, and I'm hoping this rotation will help me get closer to a more confident decision. I guess it would be a little biased to ask in this subreddit, but please share some personal insights you have on pursuing either plastics or forensics (beyond the usual 'plastics residency will leave you a husk of a human' statements). edit: or if you were torn between two specialties and ended up choosing forensics, what made you ultimately choose this specialty?

The 2013 death of teenager Kendrick Johnson at Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Georgia, remains one of the most highly scrutinized and debated cases in recent history. Marked by contradictory autopsies, a catastrophic breakdown in the chain of custody, and rampant online rumors, the case culminated in a multi-year federal investigation.

​The Initial Death Investigation and Conflicting Autopsies

​Kendrick Johnson was found dead, trapped upside down in a rolled-up wrestling mat in his high school gymnasium. The initial death investigation was overseen by Lowndes County Coroner Bill Watson.

​The official state autopsy was performed by Dr. Maryanne Gaffney-Kraft, a medical examiner for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). She concluded that Kendrick’s death was a tragic accident caused by "positional asphyxia"—meaning he suffocated after getting stuck upside down while trying to retrieve a shoe rolled up inside..

​Dissatisfied with this conclusion, the Johnson family hired Dr. William R. Anderson, an independent pathologist with Forensic Dimensions, to perform a second autopsy. Dr. Anderson contradicted the GBI, concluding that Kendrick suffered unexplained, non-accidental blunt force trauma to his right neck and jaw. However, Dr. Anderson's examination was severely limited because when the body was exhumed, all of Kendrick's internal organs from his pelvis to his skull were missing, destroying vital forensic evidence.

​The Missing Organs and Chain of Custody Failure

The disappearance of the organs was the result of a massive, unresolved (to this day) breakdown in chain of custody.

​During the initial GBI autopsy, Dr. Gaffney-Kraft removed the organs for examination. The GBI maintained that the organs were placed in biohazard bags, returned to the body cavity, and handed over to Owens Transport Company to be driven from the Macon crime lab back to Valdosta.

​However, both the local coroner and the funeral home claimed the body arrived entirely empty. Coroner Bill Watson stated that the organs were discarded because they were severely decomposed and "destroyed through natural process." This poor excuse is the elephant in the room. The universal protocol is to return the organs (in their biohazard bags) in the body cavity.

Because transfer logs only tracked the physical body bag and not its internal contents, it was never legally proven exactly who threw the organs away or at what specific point in transit they were removed -- or why.

​The Mortuary Misinformation

​When the body arrived at Harrington Funeral Home in Valdosta, run by funeral director Antonio Harrington, the mortuary faced an empty body cavity. Instead of using industry-standard, sanitary mortuary fillers like treated cotton or excelsior, the funeral home stuffed Kendrick's body cavity with crumpled up newspaper.

​When this horrific detail was discovered during the second autopsy, Antonio Harrington attempted to save his business license and reputation by putting out blatant misinformation to the public and the press. He falsely claimed that stuffing bodies with trash was a standard operating procedure, stating:

​"Newspaper is a practice that has been used for years... Shredded paper, cotton, and sawdust are used to restore normalcy to the body. Very few use sawdust. The majority use paper."

​This claim was vehemently debunked by national funeral directors and the Georgia Board of Funeral Service. The state board clarified that while no specific law explicitly banned newspaper at the time, Harrington’s claim that "the majority use paper" was \*\*entirely false\*\*, and the practice was an egregious breach of professional ethics.

​The Video Evidence and False Accusations

​Online communities and the Johnson family heavily suspected a cover-up involving two schoolmates, Brian Bell and Branden Bell, the sons of a local FBI agent. Rumors circulated that they had fought Kendrick in the gym that day. However, an FBI video analysis definitively cleared the Bell brothers, proving they were on entirely different parts of the campus when Kendrick entered the gym. The Johnson family’s $100 million civil suit against the Bells was eventually dropped, and a judge ordered the Johnsons to pay the Bell family $292,000 in legal fees for pursuing baseless claims.

​Questions also surrounded the school's surveillance footage. CNN hired leading forensic video analyst Grant Fredericks to examine the tapes. Fredericks confirmed there was a missing hour of footage and a blurry camera pointed at the mats. He concluded that there was no evidence of malicious editing or a cover-up; the camera had likely been physically knocked out of focus (without any explanation of how), and the missing hour was attributed to an undefined system recording error or unresolved video export error. Neither excuse holds up to duplicity.

​The Final Federal Conclusion

​In June 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice—along with the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Offices—officially closed a nearly three-year federal probe into Kendrick Johnson’s death.

After reviewing tens of thousands of documents and conducting nearly 100 interviews, the DOJ concluded there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a prosecutable federal crime, murder, or civil rights violation had occurred. As a result, no federal criminal charges were ever filed against any students, local officials, medical examiners, or the mortuary.

The ruling documented inconsistencies throughout the investigation, the creation of false narratives of mortuary history, excuses made of leaky fluids that do not seep from sealed biohazard bags, lack of legal chain of custody for the numbered biohazard bags omitted from transfer logs (with only a single body bag accounted for), and the inability to replicate the gym video becoming suddenly blurry then losing an hour of footage entirely.

Hello everyone, I currently work in healthcare as a respiratory therapist with 18 years experience. I have an AS degree and BS degree in respiratory therapy. I would like to transition to an autopsy tech or medico legal death investigator. Can you provide what education would best set me up for this? Thanks

Our firm is assisting Allegheny County (Pittsburgh, PA) with the recruitment of two forensic pathologists for one of the country's premier medical examiner offices.

We're recruiting for:

• Deputy Chief Medical Examiner – a leadership role combining forensic pathology, division leadership, teaching, research, quality initiatives, and collaboration with the Chief Medical Examiner.

• Academic Deputy Medical Examiner – ideal for someone who enjoys forensic pathology alongside resident, fellow, and medical student education, research, and academic collaboration.

Highlights include:

Salary: $290,000–$300,000
Work in a nationally recognized forensic pathology program
Extensive academic partnerships with UPMC, the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon, Allegheny Health Network, and (for the Academic Deputy role) Duquesne University COM.
Opportunities for research, teaching, fellowship training, and leadership
Pittsburgh offers an outstanding quality of life with a relatively affordable cost of living.
Positions are open until filled.

If you know someone who might be interested—or if you'd like more information—feel free to message me or email me directly. Happy to answer questions confidentially.

Link to the postings:  https://www.pracademicpartners.com/current-recruitments

Auto (self) -psy (to view) and necro (death) assay (to assess) - why do we stick with autopsy?

Hi!

I apologize if this does not belong here

I’m a Non-US IMG aiming to do 3 USCEs next year (total of 12 weeks)

Between my options I have two potential forensic pathology observerships and I personally would love to do both, since it’s my area of interest and hopefully my future fellowship (getting ahead of myself there but one can dream)

However I’m not sure if having 2/3 observerships in one specific pathology subspecialty would affect my residency application by making it too narrow.

In your experience, does it matter what area of pathology you observe? Would it negatively affect my application to have only 1 observership that’s not forensics?

(Third rotation could be general AP/CP, pediatric or thoracic pathology) (nothing locked in yet but trying to coordinate and decide)

Thank you!

Hi everyone! Video comments are now live for anyone who is a flaired user.

Note: if you’re a flailed user and cannot make a video comment, please leave a regular comment on this post and I’ll fix that.

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What would a body look like 1-3 days after the person hung himself?

Someone in our town decided to take his life by driving into the forest and drinking antifreeze. It took him 5 days to die, and not even close relatives were allowed to view his body.

I can't imagine the immense suffering. If anyone can tell me what may have happened day by day, hour by hour to that poor man, it may give me some kind of realistic closure. I know it will be graphic. But I want to know exactly what that dear man went through; what was happening to his body day by day. It's not out of morbid curiosity. It comes from a form of empathy for what he suffered through physically.

If anyone could weigh in psychologically, that would be helpful too. I know he once said to his partner that if he chose to go, please don't let anyone stop him.

He was happy and normal days before he drove off. I've heard of this.

But why antifreeze? Why? It's not like it was the only thing available in the moment. He was a clever, educated man. He specifically chose that way to go. He planned this.

Any insight, no matter how awful, would be greatly appreciated. I'm not satisfied with pouring glitter over the grim truth.

Thank you 🙏🏻❤️

Look after yourselves 🌷

Hi, everyone. I'm not a forensic pathologist. I just wanted to get the opinion of some who are. This is kind of a strange post, and I hope it doesn't seem disrespectful or frivolous. It certainly isn't intended to be.

The video I linked is known (rather unkindly) as Grave Robbing For Morons. It's a video that was sold on internet bootleg sites in the early '00s, and is now freely distributed everywhere, through the magic of the internet.

It looks to have been shot on a camcorder, and owing to various clues in the video (a certain movie on VHS tape and magazine), seems to have been made at some point in 1989 or later. It features a long -haired teenager with a stutter, holding what he claims to be a human skull stolen from a grave. The young man goes on to give laughably bad advice on grave robbing, and the care and preparation of bones one wishes to sell on the black market. His narration is rambling, contradictory, and seems at times as if he is simply making it up on the spot.

The provenance of this tape is a mystery, and people have tried in vain to identify and locate the young man.

Opinions vary as to whether the bones are genuine, so I thought I'd ask the experts. It's 26 minutes long, but the first three minutes have nice close ups of the skull. He messes with what look like false teeth at one point, and there are two other, larger (leg?) bones visible early in the video as well.

Some have pointed to the fact the the skull seems to have intact Styloid Processes as proof of authenticity. Others note the grime and dirt on the bones as evidence of fakery.

So, what do you think?

Edit: I wanted to add that these youths seem to have a lot of audio/visual equipment, and one of the magazines used to tentatively date it is Horror FX, a magazine aimed at those interested in practical movie special effects.