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intheheartTitle: Popcorn
Rating: PG
Summary: It's wrong, but what isn't?
Notes: Shipwreck Light asked Summer on the Lint Roller, "What do you think of the depiction of your profession in popular culture?" I have seen all of these things in popular shows which shall remain unnamed.
Forensic pathology does not happen the way people see it on television.
I am sure that isn't really a surprise. Almost nothing that you see on television happens that way in reality, and I suppose forensic pathology isn't a particularly egregious example. I mean, the basic equipment is usually correct, and the findings aren't entirely out of the range of possibility. I suppose.
What really bothers me is the procedure.
No one is allowed in the autopsy room without proper gloves and masks. No pathologist would perform an autopsy without a cap and gown, safety glasses too, and certainly not without gloves. Who on earth would put their bare hands into a dead body? That horrifies me, and I have worked around and with the dead for most of my adult life. I am not frightened of them. Neither am I stupid.
I have seen television pathologists with loose hair, which could contaiminate evidence removed from the bodies. I have seen pathologists working in street clothes, which could not only contaminate the evidence but will ruin the clothes. I also think that television shows vastly underestimate the amount of blood in the human body. Four quarts is quite a bit more liquid than most people realize.
I try not to say these things out loud, though. Zack and Felipe prefer to watch their television shows quietly. Unless it is the rebooted version of Homicide: Life on the Streets. Then they are sarcastic about the police work and I can complain about the pathology.
I enjoy those nights. We make popcorn.
Rating: PG
Summary: It's wrong, but what isn't?
Notes: Shipwreck Light asked Summer on the Lint Roller, "What do you think of the depiction of your profession in popular culture?" I have seen all of these things in popular shows which shall remain unnamed.
Forensic pathology does not happen the way people see it on television.
I am sure that isn't really a surprise. Almost nothing that you see on television happens that way in reality, and I suppose forensic pathology isn't a particularly egregious example. I mean, the basic equipment is usually correct, and the findings aren't entirely out of the range of possibility. I suppose.
What really bothers me is the procedure.
No one is allowed in the autopsy room without proper gloves and masks. No pathologist would perform an autopsy without a cap and gown, safety glasses too, and certainly not without gloves. Who on earth would put their bare hands into a dead body? That horrifies me, and I have worked around and with the dead for most of my adult life. I am not frightened of them. Neither am I stupid.
I have seen television pathologists with loose hair, which could contaiminate evidence removed from the bodies. I have seen pathologists working in street clothes, which could not only contaminate the evidence but will ruin the clothes. I also think that television shows vastly underestimate the amount of blood in the human body. Four quarts is quite a bit more liquid than most people realize.
I try not to say these things out loud, though. Zack and Felipe prefer to watch their television shows quietly. Unless it is the rebooted version of Homicide: Life on the Streets. Then they are sarcastic about the police work and I can complain about the pathology.
I enjoy those nights. We make popcorn.
