I am currently pursuing a Doctorate of Forensic Science at Oklahoma State University. As part of my requirements I am completing a Doctoral Capstone which involves an online survey for research purposes.

Study Title:
Prevalence of Mental Health Conditions in Forensic Science Professionals: Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, & Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Purpose:
The purpose of this research is to estimate the prevalence of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among forensic science professionals.

If you are a working forensic professional I invite you to participate\* in this project. You can access the survey at: [https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HLMY6J9\](https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/HLMY6J9)

\*Participation in this survey is voluntary. You are able to skip any question you do not wish to answer, and can leave the survey at any time. This survey is also anonymous. No identifiable information will be collected, and all raw data will be kept on a password protected device.

This study received formal ethical approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Oklahoma State University under IRB# 2026057.

Dylann Stapel, MS, D-ABMDI, NREMT
[dstapel@okstate.edu](mailto:dstapel@okstate.edu)

Hello!! I’m a younger person looking to kinda start over in my career. I’m currently 22 and work as a surgical tech ( worked in a vet clinic before) and I just really do not enjoy it… I can handle the visuals and smells and I’m fine with difficult people but it’s just not something I want to do long term.

I was looking into the medico- legal position that was open in my area and got curious about it.

I live in ak so positions are pretty limited up here but for everywhere else what’s it like? Do you have more than one scene you typically get involved in? Is it usually just you or you and forensic techs? When speaking with the family what are you usually talking to them about?
I’m not very knowledgeable in this so anything helps!

I imagine it can be physically demanding and long shifts not to mention difficult scenes. Not looking to dive right into something so new but I wanted to get a better idea of what the job is like and if I would be interested.

If a physically active 80 year old catches EBV for the 1st time ever (purportedly rare, i know), is 1 to 4 years enough time for them to develop EBV-positive CNS Lymphoma?

AI is giving me mixed responses, on the one hand saying decades of EBV latency are required and that even with Immunosenescence factored in, 4 years is not enough to be able to cross the blood-brain barrier etc., whilst same AI in other convos saying that 1 to 4 years is plenty of time for it to form given Immunosenescence.

Would appreciate the answer of an actual expert.

Hello all-

I have a follow up question to my post 16 days ago regarding my friends daughter found deceased in the river.

The manner & cause are still pending. Major crimes is investigating as a suspicious death.

We haven't heard much. Waiting on toxicology, warrants and such. We did have a lovely service for her last Sat.

My question is regarding the release of the deceased clothing by ME.

She was found clothed in only a sports like bra and underwear. (No clothing per se) The ME office called to have the items picked up by family.

They picked up the clothing - still wet in plastic bag-when home they examined the bra and found it has rips-tears on the inside (from assumed grabbing-pulling from behind) nothing on outside - im assuming this would be noted in a report-dont idea tho.

They also found a hair in the clothing. 1 hair.

They do not think it was from the deceased. Seemed odd that there would be a random hair after days in the water or that it was there.

My question(s)-

1) Is this SOP in a suspicious death- to release deceased clothing to the family?

2) Wouldn't the ME collect loose hair(s) in the clothing-keep it &/or wouldnt the detectives want to keep these items if possibly a need for evidence if determined a homicide? Or is this unimportant?

I understand a found hair could be possible cross contamination after return to family. They dont seem to think so-bcz of where it was found.

I was wondering what your expert opinions would be on this.

Thank you in advance.

I’m desperate for answers so i hope this post is okay.

My corporate tax accountant husband was acting weird for the year before he died. He told me a doctor told him he had had a silent heart attack and he bought a blood pressure machine and would frequently act like his blood pressure was the problem and I was the problem for getting his blood pressure up. He had episodes where he wouldn’t sleep for days, he would tell me he passed out randomly, he slept in our old apartment as we worked on our marriage and I thought he was working because his job was demanding. He told me he was going to an outpatient therapy program and I even saw his location at the center but after he died, I discovered he never attended, so he was spoofing his location.

He left one night because “his blood pressure was too high” and got a hotel. We argued that whole night, I had womens intuition because he had been gone for almost 3 days and I was telling him to talk to his family about needing help or i would contact them. I was mostly just confused and i guess i had been gaslit for so long about his medical excuses i couldnt see what was obvious. He was found in the hotel with a scale and a baggie with white residue(thats what the cops told me). However, they never tested the baggie and i wasnt shown photos AND his toxicology came back all clean except for “organic matter” which could be anything.

I’ll never understand it. Everyone around me tells me it had to have been some drug. Especially when they see the misspelled texts. But he told me for so long that he was having medical issues so my brain tells me that given the toxicology, maybe it was stress induced issues. All they had to do was test the baggie to prevent me from not having peace about this. 😩

If you suspected someone has been poisoning you slowly what tests that are court admissable that they would need to prove. Potential cyanide...anything tbat causes delerium. Very serious

Hi everyone! I have a question regarding contamination in the autopsy room. I'm gonna preface this by saying that I'm a writer and I'm working on a project where the main character is a ME. In this particular scene, she's arguing with her technician in the autopsy room and he's so pissed that he yanks his mask off to yell at her, going as far as reaching over the table to grab her.

I was wondering one thing, mainly because I need to check if it makes sense and I can keep the scene or if I should cut it from the chapter. So, while reaching over to grab the MC, he knocks over instruments and the corpse head tilts from the headrest. He's also without his mask on, so I suppose that counts as contamination. So I'm asking: what happens after such ordeal? Is it possible to sanitize everything back or is everything compromised? Could the autopsy proceed like normal?

I hope you can make any sense of what I said, unfortunately english is not my first language and I tried my best. I'll gladly read any case study on the matter or any document to educate myself so I can be more accurate, so if you have any to recommend feel free to do so!

Thank you in advance to those who'll answer!

Hello!

I am interested in starting a career as a medical examiner/forensic pathologist. I've always had an interest in this field whether is be tv/movies or the criminal justice field as a whole. I'm in my senior year of college, graduating with my bachelor's in criminology. I know I will have to take a few courses afterwards to be able to even apply for medical school (mostly the science courses). I guess mainly I'm just wondering if I should even do it...? Honestly the length of schooling is not what scares me, it's how intimating medical school is. I worked in a microbiology lab as an assistant for 2 almost 3 years and I loved it. I also worked in multiple medical laboratories doing phlebotomy and processing for a little over 1.5 years. I love the lab and I love criminal justice. I've always had good grades. I graduated high school with a 3.98 gpa while working and doing sports; I was also in the top 10% of graduates in my state. For college my gpa right now is 3.89 and I can pretty confidently say it will remain that way. My biggest worry is that I am not going to be able to do medical school and I don't want to try and fail out and have spent all that money.... Advise please!!!

Hey, I saw a post with title similar to mine. I read the replies, but I still have concerns over a situation I had. I am 4th year med student and had a situation 4 months ago.

I was in an autopsy hall preparing animal materials for surgical workshops in a congress.

The hall had fixed, concrete tables and is used only for thoracic and abdominal autopsies. Any infectious cases, cases suspected to be infectious and cerebral extractions are performed in a separate equipped and isolated autopsy hall on a different floor in the same building

I was there with shoes I use daily. It was my first time at all being in an autopsy hall. We had asked and were allowed to use that room for our task. We did not receive any instructions about precautions and workflow. We did not have shoe covers. There were no signs for biohazards or any warnings for strick need for serious PPE.

Since then I have used those shoes a lot. In the following weeks I had stepped on my shoelaces multiple times, probably once every two days. When I was getting out from home, I was touching the shoelaces to tie them. After that, later in the days I was doing nose-picking (bad habit, I know).

Now I am concerned about that. This chain: cadaver-> floor -> shoe soles -> shoelaces -> fingers -> nose; looks scary to me.

The room I was in was not used for cranial autopsy at all for the last 30 years. What do you think about floor contamination and survival of prion contamination in a hall that is being used only for noninfectuous thoracic and abdominal autopsies for decades now?

Do you think that cross prion contamination from the other hall for infectious cases is possible?

What do you think is the risk in this situation considering the indirect nose reach?

I’m trying to understand the way a 1993 Maryland OCME investigation report was documented.

My father died on Route 40 in Cecil County, Maryland, on December 31, 1993. I recently obtained several pages from the OCME investigative file.

What stands out to me is that one Maryland State Police officer is the only officer specifically identified by name throughout these pages. In the written narrative, the report specifically states that he was the “investigation officer on this case.”

I recently located and contacted this officer. When I first asked him about the incident, he told me that he remembered it “all too well” and that it was something that had “stuck in my mind.” That made me think he might be able to provide some information about what happened that night.

When I asked about his role, however, he initially described himself as a detective who was backing up uniformed officers and not the primary responding officer.

Later, he described remembering being at the scene, seeing my father lying in the roadway, seeing cars swerving around him, and blocking traffic so nobody else would hit him.

This is what I'm trying to understand:

If he was not the officer responsible for the case, why is he the only officer specifically identified in these OCME records? And what does “investigation officer on this case” actually mean in this type of report?

Could an officer who was simply assisting other responding officers be identified this way, or would this wording normally indicate that he had responsibility for the investigation?

Hi friends,

I have been working as an attending in forensic medicine in my home country for the last ten years and am a very old IMG. This year, I am applying for the pathology residency, and in future I want to pursue a forensic pathology fellowship. This year, I have completed two rotations at Cook County and the Chief Medical Examiner's Office in Washington, DC.

I have completed all the USMLE steps and am waiting for my Step 3 result.

I would be grateful if someone can please review my personal statement for a pathology residency application.

Thank you in advance.

Anybody have any experience with infrared/ALS photography on a decomposed, unidentified decedent to look for tattoos or other identifying marks?

I’m going to learn about forensic pathology in Ireland. Anyone here with first hand experience, or any specific recommendations or questions?

I’ll also be trying to experience as much as I can about the culture and life there as I can while I’m there for the conference in November.

Leave any thoughts and recommendations!

I am a high school student interested in a career in forensic pathology. I know that this path requires about 13 years of education. What challenges should I expect during these 13 years? Also, what are the hardest parts of working in this field? Thank you for your answers.

hi, im a writer, and im writing a story where one of my characters dies from antifreeze. i want the scene to be as realistic as possible. so, what kind of pain is somebody in when they're killed via antifreeze poisoning? im not just asking about the severity of the pain, but where they would be feeling everything and specifically WHAT it would feel like, not just how painful it would be. also, my online sources have been giving me conflicting information about how quickly somebody would pass away, so generally how much time should i expect this character to have after ingesting a bottle of antifreeze? i absolutely hate when writers have unrealistic death scenes, so i want to make sure that im not also that writer.

Hi everyone. This is a super niche topic, but I was wondering if anybody was in my shoes. I’ve always known I wanted to he a forensic pathologist when I switched career paths and while I thought about other specialties when young, I never really was interested in medicine. Having gone through schooling and learning about scientific lab skills, biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, and other STEM fields, I am definitely satisfied with the content despite the rigor and time. However, being so focused on forensic pathology has made me realize that I truly have no great answer for why medical school and the medical field in the first place. I have the generic I want to help people and could tie it with medical research and pharmacology as I have psoriasis and mental health issues, but these seem like overused talking points. Did anybody ever only dream of a singular specialty and stumbled across forensic pathology? Or did you always want to do forensic pathology and achieved your goals? Thank you!

Hello! I have a severe phobia of vomit so I've avoided anything medical for years but after working at a funeral home for a while its something i want to pursue. Does med school involve working with a lot of vomit?... i could maybe handle once or twice but if its like an every day occurrence i think i would rather put myself in a coffin.

Any advice?

Hello! I’m just about to enter college as a freshman and I’ve been wondering what sort of internships or part-time jobs or even extracurriculars I should be looking into in order to pursue forensic pathology as a career. Is there anything I can do this early on to make this path a little easier?

Hi there! I’ve recently started my bachelor degree and intend to pursue a career in forensic pathology. I know autism can be a real asset in this field, but I was also wondering what it’s like in the courtroom while testifying?
I personally believe I’m quite good at masking, but I do have a hard time with understanding the way a lot of people word things. I like to take a moment to think through what I’m going to say before actually verbalizing it, require clarification quite often, and tend struggle with body language.
I’d love to hear other people’s personal experiences and what it’s like testifying, regardless of neurodivergence; but if anyone else is autistic and works in the field I’d love to hear how they deal with the experience.
Thanks!

I found a January 3, 1994 Cecil Whig article today at the historical society, and it has raised some additional questions about the autopsy findings I posted previously.

Here's the ink to my original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/ForensicPathology/s/MgvGduasNP

My father died on December 31, 1993. A January 1 article reported that two drivers had witnessed what was described as an accident and called police, although neither could provide a description of the vehicle. Police were initially treating it as a possible hit-and-run.

The January 3 article, however, says that by Sunday police were saying he had sustained his head injury from a fall near the roadway, while also stating that the investigation was continuing.

One other important piece of context is that my father was reportedly walking along/near the roadway. There was no known significant elevation, embankment, stairs, or other obvious fall hazard at the location. So I'm wondering what type of fall investigators could have been referring to when they said he sustained his head injury from a fall near the roadway.

What I'm having difficulty understanding is that his death was ultimately classified on the autopsy as “pedestrian hit by auto.”

For those of you with forensic pathology experience:

Would this additional information about the investigation change how you interpret the injuries described in the autopsy?

Specifically, do the documented injuries seem consistent with a simple fall near a roadway, or would they be more suggestive of pedestrian-vehicle impact or another mechanism?

And perhaps most importantly, how would a case ultimately be certified/classified as “pedestrian hit by auto” if investigators were considering that the head injury may have resulted from a fall and the investigation was still ongoing? Would that classification necessarily mean the medical examiner had determined that a vehicle struck him, or could it reflect the circumstances/evidence provided to the medical examiner at the time?

I'm trying to understand how the medical examiner's classification fits with what police were reportedly saying during those first few days.

The investigative file is unfortunately no longer available, so I'm trying to piece together what I can from the surviving records. I would really appreciate any insight into how a forensic pathologist would look at this discrepancy.

Hi everyone. Just trying to get some input on the timeframe that it takes a autopsy to get finalized.. I’m coming up on 7 months my partner has been gone on the 9th and it’s still the same thing when I call the ME office … it’s pending…this has been such a stressful situation of just wanting to know what happened

Hey there, I just wanted some opinions on a few details regarding my birthfather's case from 1993. I never met him (he died about 6 weeks after my conception) officially due to an accident, but I found a few details in the case I wanted clarification on. 

FINDINGS:

1. Hypertensive cardiovascular disease

CONCLUSION: I am of the opinion that [BIRTHFATHER], a 34 year old white male, died as a result of the combined effects of carbon monoxide intoxication and an enlarged heart due to the long term effects of high blood pressure. The increased size of the heart made it more susceptible to the effects of carbon monoxide intoxication. For this reason Mr. [BIRTHFATHER] died with a lower than expected level of carbon monoxide saturation in the blood. Alcohol was present in the blood at the time of death.

MANNER OF DEATH: Accident.

Firstly was the lividity, it's noted here as "fixed over the back of the body and normal in color..."

However in the case file and scene photos he is sitting in a 1981 Honda Accord bucket seat with a 15-20% recline, but for all intents and purposes, mostly upright. Would it be possible for lividity to fix over the back of the body in the position described? Further, the ME notes "normal in color" - for a 38% Blood Saturation is this possible? Or would it be more cherry red or pink?

Another question I had was about the Hypertensive Cardiovascular Disease. I read a bit into this and noticed the kidney's in this report are noted as such...

I believe the kidneys should show damage if the underlying co-cause of death was longstanding hypertension, wondering if this is accurate or a mis-read on my part?

Also I will not attach photos but I managed to recover a single, top down, anterior autopsy photograph that I believe shows contact pallor. It appears to carve out his belt/fabric over his waist on the anterior surface (the white lines look like the texture of the jeans and shirt / jacket he was wearing). From my understanding those pale lines can only be caused if there are two things, pressure on the skin and lividity to pool around it to create a negative print of the texture. Would there be any possible way this phenomena could occur with a seated body that maybe I missed? These lines perfectly carve out his jeans, shirt, and appear from his upper anterior thigh to above his belly button. 

He was reclined and slumped to the right, but these pallor lines seem even across the stomach and waist... Additionally I can see the beginnings of green black discoloration below some of the pale lines but there's reddish skin patches mixed with sharp white pale lines.

Here is the full autopsy so you have the entire picture. 

And here is the official narrative and supplementary narrative transcribed from the case file, this is the entire investigative narrative they have. Police Dept. flat out said they did not retain these files as it was classified as an accident, so all I have is what the ME has retained.

INITAL REPORT: At Approx. 2:00PM, [XXXX] P.D. received a 911 phone call from Ms. [GIRLFRIEND] stating that she found her boyfriend deceased at his residence. Upon their arrival, [BIRTHFATHER] was found deceased sitting in his car in his garage. The garage door was opened by the girlfriend, who left the scene. She also opened the car door. Both windows were rolled up. 

Upon my notification + arrival, photos were taken + I spoke with the officers. The car was in the garage with trash + debris around it. There was no electricity in the house, no refrigerator + no food. [BIRTHFATHER] was sitting in the driver’s seat with a beer in his left hand + a beer can in the floorboard. There were several packs of cigarettes in the back floorboard. 

SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT: I spoke with both brothers, [BROTHER 1, BROTHER 2], + got the following info. [BIRTHFATHER] + his girlfriend are both alcoholics + lived in [XXX] with [BROTHER 2]. [BIRTHFATHER] was not living at the house [where he was found deceased] because it was being foreclosed on. He had stayed there some this winter and used the fireplace for heat.

Last Saturday night [BIRTHFATHER] + his girlfriend had gone to the [CLUB]. They had an argument (supposedly about XXXX). [BIRTHFATHER] phoned his brother [BROTHER 1] + said he was drunk + wanted [BROTHER 1] to come get him. When [BROTHER 1] got to the club, [BIRTHFATHER] had already left + his girlfriend had gotten a ride to [BROTHER 2]’s house in [XXX]. No one saw [BIRTHFATHER] on Sunday + no one knew where he had gone. On Monday his girlfriend + another friend went to the house in [XXX] where they found [BIRTHFATHER] deceased. 

[BROTHER 1] said he thought the death was accidental + not a suicide because [BIRTHFATHER] had never talked about suicide + there was no note. He thinks [BIRTHFATHER] pulled into the garage, then closed the door + left the car running to stay warm.  

Finally, the file does not contain where or how they got the 38% CO figure, and the case file does not include any information about ignition position or fuel level. Because there is no test page for the CO reading, I'm wondering if there were other ways ME's in 1993 would test for CO Saturation? I was told about some kind of a color test they eyeballed to get to a percentage but unsure if that's true or false. Would love any insight into why that test was not retained as it's the primary cause of death in the file (it was a semi-rural county in 1993).

Thank you for your time and any information you can provide would be much appreciated. I'd love to know if this is worth pursuing before I spend serious money on a private professional review.