Yes, I want to be a Medical Examiner . It's an outrageous job and is quite abnormal but I like the craziness. I'm still at the beginning of my career route but I think I have a better lead than other future medical examiners. I got my interest in forensics because of Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) . This club really opened my eyes and helped choose a right career for me. I started the program 2008 and placed 3rd in Arizona State and qualified for nationals. In 2009 I placed 3rd in Arizona State again and went to Nationals for my first time. I placed 3rd in the Nation. Forensic Medicine Competitions is what I have been good at for a couple years and I want to expand those competitions into a career. I had an amazing burst of energy at the Tennessee Nationals and the close win and big reward has given me a huge burst of confidence.
Becoming a Medical Examiner is a really tough job and it’s a long journey to get there. The first step to becoming a Medical Examiner is to complete a 4 year Bachelor Degree program. After the Bachelor Degree program they must complete Medical school and get a Medical Degree. After the Medical degree the journey still isn’t over, there is also a required internship for the field of forensics before someone can start their career.
Even though the path to becoming a Medical examiner is long and time consuming the job is well worth the eight plus years of college. The day to day duties a Medical Examiner does often is autopsies, interviews, and serving as witnesses in court. The purpose of the job is to declare cause of death. Cause of death is very important in crime cases because it can solve a case. There are many causes of death but another problem medical examiners have to solve is the manner of death. Manner and cause of death may seem very similar but aren’t. The causes of death are problems such as strangulation, heart attack, or thick abrasions. There aren’t as many manners of death as there is cause. The main four manners of death are natural, homicide, accidental, and suicide.
I have come across several controversies and the main one would be loss of job because of false interpretation. The wrong cause of death can ruin a medical examiners career because their observations are mostly for families and the law. Lawsuits are a major stressor on medical examiners and make the job a burden. Not a lot of people get interested in losing careers and it’s common for medical examiners.
Despite the probability of losing my career because of a mistake I’m still willing to try. As of right now, becoming a medical examiner is the only thing I have going for me. Maybe with a couple more years of prerequisites I will change my mind.

Collective links Late

1. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-medical-examiner.htm This site is about pathologists and what they do to become who they are. It seems backed up and legitimate because it has no ads so the information must be somewhat correct. The site shows a sequence of college procedures and what the job is about. I am considering using this site for my paper.
2. http://jobs.virginia.gov/careerguides/medicalexaminer.htm This site has the career guide of becoming a Medical Examiner. It has good tips on development and outcomes. It shows me what I should look forward to. The cite looks like it was made on a word document and has no resources and it could be false. I will remember the tips but might not use them.
3. http://thename.org/.htm This site is about all the Medical Examiners and the counties they work in. They have facts and interviews from Medical Examiners. The site looks like a government made site and it looks like it will help me with the details I need for my essay.
4. http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=eopsagencylanding&L=3&L0=Home&L1=Public+Safety+Agencies&L2=Office+of+the+Chief+Medical+Examiner&sid=Eeops This website is about the main Medical Examiner. It gives the offices and what to do when you need to contact a Medical Examiner. The site looks professional and I plan on using it for my essay. It has good links to find sources I need.

Videos

This video was one I have come across before. The Body Farm has always been an interest of mine and one day I would love to study there.




Everytime I think of Medical Examiners I think of the famous Dr. G. She has a wonderful show and has been a Medical Examiner for twenty years and i will be using some of her information for my essay.

Overall Reaction of My interview

On Tuesday I interviewed an old teacher of mine. She was the one who inspired me to become a Pathologist/Medical Examiner/Coroner. I had a good time with her and was overall pleased. I was a little dissapointed because I wanted more information that she could not give me because she didn't know but it's all just textbook questions. After the interview I was inspired to going back to my old High School roots of HOSA. Which is a Nursing club with competitions that go through state and nationals. I am signing up for next years Post Secondary Division which is for College students and I will be competing in Forensic Medicine Once again. To the right is a picture of my partner Dorothy and I at Nationals in Nashville, Tennessee. We got third place in Forensics in the Nation. We competed with about two hundred other Forensic Medicine Teams.

Annotated Bibliography

Career Cruising. “Coroner Job Description.”. Careercruising.com (2010). Web. April 7 2010.

This source discusses about what a Medical Examiner (Coroner) actually does. It has two interviews from different Coroner’s and interesting questions that will help me with my interview. This web information gave me a lot more information than I got from other cites. Coroners are much like Medical Examiners and they share the same role as a death investigator. This source was less about the educational process in order to be in the field it’s more of what to expect in the job. Career Cruising is a valid source because it’s protected and backed up with the Yavapai College Library Tab. It also has no advertisements and many references.


Education-portal.com. “Steps to Becoming a Medical Examiner in the U.S.”.
Educationportal.com (2010).Web. April 5 2010.

In this source, it discusses briefly about what Medical Examiners do as a job but mostly on how to become a Medical Examiner. It discusses all the degrees required in order to become a Medical Examiner. Becoming a Medical Examiner can’t really start off easily in community college and with an Associate’s Degree. People pursuing the career must start with a Bachelor’s Degree and go all the way up to a Master’s. All Medical Examiners are Licensed Physicians. The Education-portal.com gives many school references and recommendations for students who are interested in the field. I will be including this article in my essay because it focuses on the route to becoming a Medical Examiner and focuses on the pathway. I will be using a different source for details on the job description. I think this cite is legit because it shows videos and references and there aren’t many unrelated advertisements.



Lyle, D.P. (2004). Forensics for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing,inc.

This is a source that I have been reading out of for two years. It focuses on almost everything that needs to be asserted to because it’s literally a reference. Almost everything that needs to be known about forensics can come from this book. It has pictures, examples, and the author is an MD in Pathology. It’s a better version of a hard summary of forensics. Out of all my references this one is my favorite because I have had much more time to review and enjoy. This book is the book that taught me things that others don’t. I know this book is a good citation because it’s published and comes from the many series of popular Dummy books.

NYC Office of Chief Medical Examiner. “Forensic Information.”. www.nyc.gov.
(2010). Web. April 7 2010.

I thought this cite would go well with my paper because when people think about Medical Examiners they think about the crimes and all the psycho cool crimes are in New York City. This site has real life stories from Medical Examiners in New York City. I know that a Coroner from NYC has seen more gore and has to solve harder crimes than a Medical Examiner from Yavapai County. The interview questions are more advanced than the other sites I observed and reviewing the feedback from the chief medical Examiner is the true answer that everyone wants to hear. The have seen it all plus more. There can be no better answer than one from the Chief of Medical Examiners from New York City. I know that this website is a good source because it is supported by the government and there is no advertisements whatsoever.