Now that I've let those fun pictures sink in I guess I will outline my last week. It has been fun and very worthwhile. I feel as though all medical professionals should at least watch an autopsy. Drawings in textbooks and gray, preserved cadavers in anatomy labs do not do justice to the complexity of human anatomy, physiology, and pathology. There is just something extra that you get from seeing a fresh (and sometimes not so fresh) body opened up in all of its glory. Well here is the outline from the last week:

Tuesday: A teenage girl was hit by a motor vehicle while she was riding her bike. Yet another blunt force trauma case. A couple of heart disease type of cases. There was also a possible drug overdose, but once again that is awaiting toxicology results. There was also a guy who crashed his car into a tree.

Wednesday: Another young bicyclist was hit by a car. He had no brakes on his bike. I guess it would have been a good idea to get some brakes.

Thursday: Another apparent drug overdose. He was a heavy drug/alcohol user and had a past history of suicide attempts by attempted overdoses. We also had a crispy critter. She was an alcoholic who smoked, which tends to be a bad combination. Her body was burnt up pretty bad.

Friday: Last day (for now- I will be back there for a week in the fall and in December, and possibly next summer). If you have been living in the dark then you probably did not know that a big portion of the US and Canada were without power yesterday and today (did you catch that nice pun?). Well since the ME office is considered essential personnel, there was generator power. People don't stop dying or killing because the power goes out. Well anyway.., a man fell down his stairs and caused some problems in his head. There was some nice hemorrhaging in his brain. Possibly fell down the stairs from lack of power? Who knows?
There was also a body in an advanced state of decomposition (those pictures are from early decomposition). His head and neck had been picked clean by the insects and only a skull remained. There still was some flesh clinging to the limbs and some gak in the body cavity. He apparently was a homeless alcoholic and his liver had cirrhosis. The bugs didn't eat as much of the liver because it was so fibrotic.

As promised, here are some links to pictures. These are not pictures from the ME office I work at. They are just pictures that I found on the internet. Oddly enough, the only place to find such pictures are at gore sites. If you are at all disturbed by gruesome images or offended by pictures of eviscerated bodies, then don't click on the links.

Here is the most complete set of pictures that I can find that allow you to get a feel for what an autopsy looks like (make sure you look at all the pics):
Autopsy Pictures

Here is a set of pictures (from rotten.com no less) that show early decomposition. Now you can see what I mean when I say "green" and "marbling." Make sure you look at all 8 pictures so you can get an idea of what the purge from the mouth looks like:
Early Decomp

Enjoy!

Thurday was a homicide by stabbing. Nothing else really to say about that. Friday there were two cases of people who died of carbon monoxide poisoning. About 72% in the blood. It makes the blood really bright red and the lividity looks pink instead of a purplish. There was also a guy who died via a drunk driver. Another alcoholic (unrelated to drunk driving incident) was brought in with the typical symptoms.

Here is the bad news: I only have a week left at the Medical Examiner's office and then its back to school. I think I really am going to miss it. I'm considering asking the ME office near my school to let me come in on weekends or something. I am currently working on a paper that I am writing for school about human decomposition and its forensic significance. It will basically be a paper summarizing the current knowledge in the forensic literature concerning forensic entomology, pathology, microbiology, and anthropology. It really is interesting to see how those four fields can work together to be an integral part of a forensic investigation. I have been considering making the paper available online (depending on how it turns out). I knew that I was going to learn anatomy, physiology, and pathology with this internship, but I never thought I would have a sudden interest in what happens to the body when it decomposes.

There are a few classes that I will be taking that may provide me with some fuel to write about. I am taking a forensic psychology class, which is interesting because it deals with the criminal mind. I will also be taking an ethics for health care professionals class as well as my typical biology classes. The ethics class may provide some interesting topics for discussion especially since I know a few health professionals are frequent readers. My plan is to revisit the ME office whenever I am home because it will facilitate my education as I pursue a career in medicine. My point is that although I will not have autopsy cases everyday, I will still have stuff to talk about. I still am very much interested in forensics as a whole and the science that continues to catch criminals.

P.S. Links to some "fun" pictures will be coming.