Volunteer in Morgue?

[MedHopeful09]

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So I have a B.S. in biology and I was thinking about volunteering at the local medical examiner's office. Before I contact people about potentially working with them, does anyone have any experience with this? I would like to know what sorts of things I can legally do before I contact people so I'm at least prepared and not wasting their time. I'm hopefully applying to med schools next cycle, so doing any sort of program for more than a few months would be out of the question. I'm perfectly content with just cleaning instruments, but would like to see if there's anything else I can do.

Thanks in advance! =)

 

[mlw03]

You won't be able to do more than cleaning (probably floors and body trays, not dissection tools), moving stuff around, and other stuff not related to case work. Larger offices sometimes do have such opportunities, but some don't. It just depends on office policy.

 

[MedHopeful09]

Would observing autopsies be a likely event? Have you ever heard of someone being able to dissect? Thanks!

 

[mlw03]

Observing, yes. Cutting, very, very unlikely. Huge liability issues.

 

[Circumflex]

Don't worry about volunteering. It is a liability for the office if you are injured (slip on the floor, etc.) while performing a function that they pay people to do. If you contact the local ME's office and express your interest in pathology and forensics, most all offices will let you come observe. And, if you show your interest and are not annoying, they will invite you to come back. We occasionally have pre-med students come observe (some come on a semi-regular basis).

 

[KCShaw]

Some, but certainly not all, offices have "intern" type positions set up (not the right-out-of-med-school type, but more the business world type, or work-study type positions through a local college/university), which address the insurance and liability issues. But as stated, every office is different, and insurance/liability setups might be more the limiting factor in what one is allowed to *do*. I've seen interns do anything from just front-office secretarial stuff, to cleaning, to scene assistance with investigators, to scribes during autopsy, etc.

That said, working at an ME/Coroner office isn't likely to improve your chances of getting into med school very much. Which isn't to say it's not worthy, it's just not something admissions folks can be expected to favor; they may think it's neat (or weird) and perhaps it can help you stand out as different, or they may think it will help with anatomy, etc., but few are really knowledgeable of or interested in that side of medicine, and some think of it as the unfortunate dregs. It's something, yes, but do it because you're interested and not because you think it's going to seriously increase your odds.

 

[icpshootyz]

I thought I wanted to do forensics when I was interested in med school, so I tried the same thing and got nowhere. I don't think ME offices care to have volunteers, as there isn't anything you can really do. You can observe which is cool, but it might take a while to set that up given the confidential cases you will be seeing. As for forensics and med school, wWhen I expressed interest in forensics on the interview trail I got very strange looks from people, as no one in pathology is usually doing the interviewing for med school admissions, and non-path people don't care about forensics AT ALL. What I did do was once I got in to med school I contacted the pathology department and eventually did a post-sophomore fellowship in pathology where I was able to do a month at the ME office. I personally don't think you need to do a year of path to know whether or not you want to do pathology/forensics, but I certainly got a leg up when I applied to path residences and landed a very good one. However, if you're applying to med school, you really have to express interest in clinical medicine, not just forensics. Worry about focusing on forensics after you're in.