What are the pros and cons of becoming a Medical Examiner? How about a pathologist?

Question

I know that to become a medical examiner one needs to be a MD. I am very interested in medicine, and I know for sure that I want to become a doctor. But besides that I am not sure. I am interested in forensic science to a certain extent and I like the idea of working with the law enforcement, but I also do want to be a doctor. What are the pros and cons of becoming a ME? How hard is to find a job as a ME? How rigorous is the job itself? Is it worthwhile in your opinion?

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

I am a paramedic and my training had our class in the ME office many times. They work a lot of hours, but the work is not necessarily hard. The pros: great pay, every day is different, you job is very important to PD, time flies (busy). cons: smells, nasty job every day, you always work with the same people, ton of school.

I had a buddy that was a ME's assistant for many years. He loved his work also.

Answer 2

Okay, to be a Medical Examiner, you have to be a pathologist with some considerable experience and time in the field. Entering the specialty of pathology is not as difficult as surgical specialties since it is not popular, but it does require that you do well on the first part of the board exam as well have good grades/scores in the pathology courses during medical school.

I've worked in a pathology lab for a year before going to med school. Takes a certain kind of person to go that way. It is one thing to see blood, guts, and corpses on television and the internet, but touching (sometimes fresh and warm), smelling, and witnessing these things first hand is well... really not for everyone. Also, particularly if you are an ME, the autopsy of children and infants might be too disturbing for the majority of physicians and general populous. Even adult autopsies can be pretty bad.

Outside of the autopsy, pathologists must also deal with specimens removed from surgery, from things like a biopsy sample to a portion of a colon that is cancerous to an amputated leg from a person with severe neuropathy complications from diabetes. I worked as a pathology assistant and had to dissect such specimens to find cancerous areas or provide a representative sample so that the pathologist can inspect under a microscope and confirm a diagnosis made by a treating physician or surgeon.

Pathologists are commonly referred to as the doctor's doctor.

Pathologists spend a lot of time looking at slides under microscopes and doing dictation of their findings. They do perform some minor clinical procedures such obtaining biopsy samples. They really don't have much patient contact. Their hours are pretty good. The ones I worked for held 9-5 hours. They do not have to be on call. They may be asked to confirm or make probable diagnoses during a surgery, known as frozen section. Overall, not a bad life for a MD if you are alright with dealing with body parts.

As for being a medical examiner. This is not an easy thing to do. Some states, cities, counties, or whatever elect their medical examiner, so there can be politics involved with the job. Medical examiners tend to sit on their jobs for long periods of time. They might make a little less compared to private practice pathologist because it is a government job. Naturally, they have a lot of paperwork. The local ME that we worked with every once in a while was always swamped with paperwork. His hours were about the same as the pathologists.

Pathology and ME work are both pretty grim jobs. Their work is not as physically demanding as the average doctor, but the responsibility they carry is pretty heavy. They are responsible for finding the exact cause why a person died in the case of autopsy and provide supporting evidence. Pathologists are responsible for letting a doctor know whether or not a patient has cancer or some other disease through examining slides and specimens. They are the gatekeepers of just how aggressive treatments or surgeries should be.

If you are interested and highly motivated about this aspect of medicine, then by all means use it as a goal and a motivating factor as you apply to med school, and if you get in, a way to keep you going throughout med school.