Forensic Pathology

1642 Words7 Pages
Death can be viewed in many ways. Some view death as acceptable, while others shun it like the enemy. No matter what, death is unavoidable and is just a part of the life cycle. Even though we all die, unfortunately, sometimes people die from unnatural causes. The people responsible for looking into these unnatural deaths are forensic pathologists. Forensic pathologists are often hired as medical examiners and are specially certified doctors for the deceased. Their job requires them to examine corpses and perform autopsies. It also requires them to determine the cause, manner, and time of death. In addition to that, if the victim is unknown, pathologists are the ones responsible for identifying the victim. With forensic pathologists having a…show more content…
Forensic pathologists can experience many emotional hazards because of their career. One emotional hazard they may face is psychological stress. They can experience this because pathologists often encounter the dead victims of brutal crimes (Williams, 2014). Also seeing the victims of violent deaths can take an emotional toll over time on the pathologists (Williams, 2014). These for forensic pathologists could be the victims from accident, suicides, or homicides. Also pathologists often encounter bodies that are mutilated or are in higher levels of composition (Williams, 2014). They may also have to confront the grieving family members, friend, and relatives of the deceased person, which could add to the stress factor forensic pathologists already face. Trauma is also an emotional hazard they can experience. This is because if they are a well experienced professional or are new to this career certain crime scenes can have an emotional impact on them due to their violent or traumatic manner (Dodge, 2014). Also having to…show more content…
The emotional hazards are more of a stress factor. It is how they deal with the built up stress that can cause problems or not. When they use destructive methods to relieve the stress this is when problems really occur. For the most part, they come up with some type of coping method. Also overtime it just becomes a regular routine without emotions. There may always be those cases that hit them close but for the most part they become immune to emotional responses in a way. There are many physical hazards forensic pathologists may face. Some of the most common physical hazards they face are body fluids, diseases, infections, and even their work environment. The reason they have a major physical hazard problem is because of all the ways these different contaminations can infect the forensic pathologists. Some of these mediums are different membranes, inhalation of contaminated particles, and skin contact. Even tho there are many ways to be affected by physical and even emotional hazards there are ways to minimize them. For emotional risk these individuals need to vent out their feelings and emotions. They can not bottle them up because this is when problems can occur. The physical hazard risks can be mostly prevented by wearing the appropriate equipment. It can also mostly be permitted by making sure the individuals know what they are doing and know how to do it as safe as possible. Also getting

More about Forensic Pathology

Open Document