Medical examiners are charged with determining the cause and manner of death, overseeing the analysis of evidence,

and presenting their findings in court. The medical examiner often works with the police to help guide their ongoing investigations by supplying them with the results of any forensic tests that have been performed. A medical examiner is a physician, licensed to practice medicine. Most medical examiners are trained in pathology, particularly forensic pathology, meaning that ideally they are medical doctors with special training in pathology and experience and training in forensics. A forensic pathologist is a clinical pathologist who has taken extra training in the field of forensics. He usually heads up the crime lab, and he oversees all aspects of death and criminal injury. The heart of the forensic pathologists job is performing forensic autopsies, which are designed to help determine the cause and manner of death. The duties of the medical examiner are diverse, but many of them relate to the forensic investigation of death, including: Determining the cause and manner of death Establishing the identity of any unnamed corpses Determining the time window of death Supervising the collection of evidence from the body Searching for any contributory factors such as a disease Correlating wounds with the weapons that may have been used to inflict them Certifying or signing the death certificate

In fulfilling these duties, the medical examiner uses any and all available information. Reviewing witness statements, visiting crime scenes, reviewing collected evidence and the results of crime lab testing, and if she is a pathologist performing autopsies are part of this endeavor. What is forensic pathology? Forensic pathology is a subspecialty of medicine that studies the causes of human death. I am a big fan of the forensic shows on television. Do these shows accurately reflect the work of a medical examiner? These forensic shows are very popular and provide a somewhat accurate but skewed perspective on the work of medical examiners. Television medical examiners act more as a detective than a medical examiner usually does. At times, their forensic abilities go beyond what is actually possible in real life. More realistic but a lot less interesting for a television drama. To get a PhD in Forensic Sciences.

Many popular movies and television shows, such as Body of Proof, the CSI franchise, and others, feature characters who are coroners as key roles in the story. However, how realistic is the portrayal of a coroner's career? Often, the way the career appears in the media is much different than the reality. What exactly does a coroner do? A coroner, also known as a medical examiner, is responsible for investigating deaths that are not due to natural causes. By examining the evidence on the body and performing an autopsy of the deceased, the coroner determines cause of death. If it's determined that the cause was a homicide, the medical examiner looks for clues that may help to identify the suspect. If you are not a detail oriented, science-loving, methodical, analytical type of person, then a career in pathology may not be for you. As a pathologist you may spend many hours examining microscopic samples of tissue, cells, or fluids to help identify a diagnosis or cause of death.~ If you love unraveling a mystery and are curious about the pathology of the human body, the forensic pathologist career may be perfect for you. In an autopsy, you collect information, test tissue and use the information you find to draw a conclusion about the cause of death, the time of death and other relevant information that might help solve a potential crime.