What is the scope of medical examiner's job?
On TV - Search for clues at the crime scene, carry guns, interrogate witnesses, find last-minute evidence identifying a killer, make arrests.
In reality - Determine cause and manner of death using a variety of sources, including postmortem exams, toxicology and histology tests, X-rays, forensic dentistry, forensic anthropology, and information gleaned from medical records, family members and personal physicians.
How often each week are medical examiners shot, drugged, kidnapped or all three?
On TV - About once a week.
In reality - Hasn't happened yet.
How well-rounded are medical examiners?
On TV - Everybody knows everything about everything.
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In reality -Forensic pathology is a specialty in itself, requiring a bachelor's degree, four years of medical school, four years in a pathology residency and a one-year forensics fellowship. Subspecialties each require an additional year's fellowship.
How often do medical examiners go to a crime scene?
On TV - Always.
In reality - Each of Pima County's six medical examiners go to crime scenes 15 or 20 times a year, typically when the death is a homicide. Each one examines 250 to 300 bodies a year.
How long is the average forensic investigation?
On TV - About 43 minutes to find the body, scour the crime scene, take the victim in for autopsy, get results, embark on a red herring, get back on track, arrest a suspect.
In reality - A medical examiner usually spends 45 minutes to an hour examining a body, sometimes longer if the case is particularly complicated. "We spend more time making the report than doing the exam," said Dr. Gregory Hess, chief medical examiner for Pima County.
How long does it take to get back test results?
On TV - It's almost instantaneous.
In reality - It can take three to four weeks to get the results of toxicology tests from an out-of-state lab. Though the medical examiner collects DNA in the form of fingernail clippings, scrapings and swabs, it does not run tests. It is left up to the law enforcement agency to decide whether DNA tests will be run at the crime lab.
What can a medical examiner learn from the external examination of a body?
On TV - Everything from the name of the salon where the victim got a spray tan to where they went jogging in the hours before death.
In reality - The exam includes looking for injury patterns; external manifestations of internal diseases, such as cancer; scars; tattoos; condition of teeth; height and weight.
What can be learned from examining stomach contents?
On TV - The last meal, specifically the restaurant where the person ate, the vintage of the wine consumed and the calorie count of the dessert.
In reality - Virtually nothing. "Stomach contents is essentially a total crock. It's very, very unreliable," Hess said. A medical examiner will always check the contents for undigested pills, but rarely send it for toxicology tests.
How are stab wounds examined?
On TV -Pour gluelike substance into the stab wound - complete with icky-squishy sound effects - let it harden and remove a perfect cast of a knife.
In reality - An examiner looks at the skin to try to determine the type of knife used - such as serrated, blunt on one side, sharp on both sides - then tries to establish how deeply the knife penetrated and what organs, bone or cartilage were hit. But an examiner cannot accurately measure the depth of the wound to determine the length of the blade.
How precisely can "time of death" be determined?
On TV - Anywhere from several hours to the precise second - provided the victim smashed his watch when he died.
In reality - Examiners do not determine the "time of death." Instead, they record the "pronounced time of death," which is the time the person is found and declared dead by someone in a law enforcement or medical capacity.
