Forensic Pathology

So I am currently 1/3 of the way through the ob/gyn rotation, and unfortunately (due to very stupid reasons) I'm not enjoying it as much as I had hoped. 40 days until Japan...

In other news, I just finished reading this book called "Unnatural Causes" by Dr. Richard Shepherd.

The author writes about his career as a forensic pathologist in Britain/the UK. He writes very honestly, and I was hooked on this book from the very beginning when I first read the introduction online later reading the physical copy in very short drips and drabs at night before bed.

As of now I'm not sure what kind of career in pathology I want to pursue.

I find that I enjoy looking at slides, but I have also become interested in topics in forensic pathology.

We had one lecture (and only one) given to us by a practicing forensic pathologist and this was outside the curriculum of medical school -- in fact, it was through the activities of the pathology interest group that I first became aware that this was even a career option. Later I had the opportunity to observe a few forensic post-mortems, but I am not completely sure it's what I want to do because I'm between that and being a hospital/clinical pathologist.

One book which I think is a good starting resource would be the textbook Forensic Pathology by David Dolinak who is both a neuropathologist and a forensic pathologist. I read the entire book over a few months time. It was a very fascinating book, though I was unable to read it at length, given the material/content. I had to read it very slowly in small portions at a time. There was something fascinating about it that pushed me to read it to the end, however, similar to Dr. Shepherd's book.

Shepherd talks about his experience having PTSD which he attributes to having worked in post-disaster/massacre/terrorist situations i.e. 9/11, Hungerford massacre, Bali, Marchioness tragedy

It's strange, before this, I thought I had all but decided I wanted to look at slides all day instead of doing autopsies. I'm not sure if I'm being influenced by the unsavory interactions I'm having with the clinicians that I'm working with right now. Is it a reaction that I'm having by wanting to distance myself entirely from the microcosm of the hospital, the egos and squabbles of the clinicians, and their politics (?)

The other reason why I'm considering this again (forensics) even though previously I thought I had ruled it out as a career [...thinking back, it may have been because of my role of relative non-involvement as a student who was there on a very limited basis, essentially observing and not having a very active role in the autopsies I observed] have to do with my own curiosity and interest and I suppose a natural affinity for the job I suppose. Being able to determine why a person died is not as simple as it appears...

Either way, I guess because of this book and for my own reasons, I'm thinking about this career path again.

Two additional resources I would recommend for people interested in forensic pathology specifically would be Knight's forensic pathology (found easily online), and Simpson's Forensic Medicine (I was able to find the 11th edition in the library and flipped through it, but I would like to check out the most recent edition which I'm sure has a lot more updates).

One thing that does bother me would be the occupational hazards inherent to the job in terms of infectious disease. I have heard here and there about pathologists contracting various diseases on the job. Perhaps, given the infectious risk, there needs to be more formalized protocols when carrying out an autopsy, similar to how surgery in the past used to be much less regulated in terms of protocol leading to mistakes and surgical site infections.

What are some ways you all think infection risk could be reduced when carrying out an autopsy?