Physicians, Pathologists
In early 2023, security services in Qalyubia governorate, Egypt, managed to uncover the details of one of the most horrific murder cases, when the body of an unidentified infant was discovered in a cemetery. This prompted the security services to send the body to the forensic medicine authority for examination and autopsy to determine the cause of death. The doctors there determined that the infant had died six months earlier, and that death was not natural -- the baby had been severely strangled, which caused the neck bones to break. The police then intensified their investigations and tracked down the parents. Under questioning, the mother confessed that she was in constant conflict with her husband, and that on one occasion she lost her mind and strangled her infant. We see crimes like this filling our screens, newspapers, and news sites every day, because crime gets the lion's share of the news -- it stirs people's emotions and curiosity. Who among us isn't drawn to scroll through this news, wanting to know the details of mysterious crimes, how they happened, and who committed them? We all know that police officers are the real heroes in these cases, because they're the ones who track down killers and criminals and bring them to justice. But there are other heroes behind the scenes of these stories: forensic doctors, who manage to solve the puzzles of mysterious crimes and uncover hidden details. A forensic specialist is responsible for examining the bodies of the deceased, collecting evidence, and lifting fingerprints from the crime scene to compare them with the fingerprints of suspects under suspicion. A forensic doctor is also responsible for very precisely dissecting the body to determine the identity of the deceased, the time of death, and the manner of death (natural, accident, suicide, or murder). They also determine the cause of death -- for example, if death resulted from an injury, they're responsible for identifying the nature of the weapon that caused it.
Meet the Writer: Waleed Abo Omiraa
What You'll Actually Do
The core tasks and responsibilities that fill a typical day.
- Review cases by analyzing autopsies, laboratory findings, or case investigation reports.
- Manage medical laboratories.
- Read current literature, talk with colleagues, or participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in pathology.
- Develop or adopt new tests or instruments to improve diagnosis of diseases.
- Educate physicians, students, and other personnel in medical laboratory professions, such as medical technology, cytotechnology, or histotechnology.
- Perform autopsies to determine causes of deaths.
- Plan and supervise the work of the pathology staff, residents, or visiting pathologists.
- Identify the etiology, pathogenesis, morphological change, and clinical significance of diseases.
- Write pathology reports summarizing analyses, results, and conclusions.
- Analyze and interpret results from tests, such as microbial or parasite tests, urine analyses, hormonal assays, fine needle aspirations (FNAs), and polymerase chain reactions (PCRs).
- Communicate pathologic findings to surgeons or other physicians.
- Consult with physicians about ordering and interpreting tests or providing treatments.
- Examine microscopic samples to identify diseases or other abnormalities.
- Diagnose diseases or study medical conditions, using techniques such as gross pathology, histology, cytology, cytopathology, clinical chemistry, immunology, flow cytometry, or molecular biology.