Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner
Author: Judy Melinek
Rating: ā 5/5
Date Read: 2014/08/21
Pages: 258
I never considered myself to have a particular penchant for the macabre, but this is the second book Iāve read that mainly focused on dead bodies. The first one, [b:Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers|32145|Stiff The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers|Mary Roach|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347656489s/32145.jpg|1188203], was jovial in tone: author Mary Roach purposely dehumanized human cadavers, in order to explore the wacky thing they do after theyāre dead (related). Judy Melinek takes the opposite route, and talks about the work she does to give dignity and closure to real people.
Melinek came to Forensic Pathology from what seems to me to be an unusual route. She initially trained as a surgeon, but found that the realities of a surgeonās life prevented her from being able to really do her job (or live her life). She worked incredibly long shifts, and was expected to never take a sick day: indeed, she recounts performing an appendectomy with a higher fever than her patient. She eventually decided to give up surgery and begin training as a pathologist. In a morgue, thereās not real need to work 30 hour shifts or spend countless nights in an on call room: the dead, apparently, can wait.
(Iām including this GIF to lighten the mood, although itās somewhat relevant, because I know Iām talking about dead bodies here)
Working Stiff recounts Melinekās two year fellowship as a New York City medical examiner. Many of us have ideas of what itās like to work as a medical examiner, because the medical examiner has become a token character on procedural dramas. Exhibit A:
In reality, most of the work centers on accidents and unexpected natural deaths, as opposed to homicides. Apparently, homicides are generally boring: they tend to show a lot of blunt trauma, and itās pretty clear what happened. Unexpected deaths, on the other hand, are fundamentally more interesting. In these cases, itās the medical examinerās job to piece together what happened from the physical evidence, and use it to give the bereaved family some closure.
Probably the best section in the book is the chapter that focuses on the recovery and identification of the victims of 9/11. Melinek had only been working at her fellowship position for nine weeks on September 11, 2001. She recounts her work on identifying the victims in detail, and the scene she sets is fairly gruesome. In one case, the only thing to identify was a hand with an impeccable French manicure. This section had me crying, which is something that rarely happens.
I heard about this book from the authorās interview on NPR. Itās a short snippet, but worth a listen: it prompted me to get the book immediately, and I couldnāt put it down until I finished. While the topic may be off-putting to some, I would highly recommend Working Stiff to anyone who might be interested, without reservations.
