Doing Death Work: A Mixed Method Examination of Imprinted Events and Behavioral Responses of Medical Examiner's Office Employees

Authors

Elizabeth L. Gilmore, University of Houston-Downtown
Kevin Buckler, University of Houston-Downtown

Abstract

"This study provides a qualitative and quantitative data analysis from interviews of current and former employees of medical examiner offices. These employees’ current and former positions required that they arrive at scenes of natural, accidental, suicidal, undetermined, and homicidal deaths, document and retrieve the decedent(s), and assist in eviscerating the remains to aid forensic pathologists during autopsy procedures. The authors interviewed 14 current or past employees of different medical examiner offices to understand what they liked and disliked about this curious profession and aimed to understand professional struggles. Additionally, study participants answered questions about imprinted events, how they and colleagues responded to their job, behavioral adaptations to the profession, and views about treatment or programming to assist persons working in a field exposed to death daily. The study identified a range of imprinted events and reasons why certain circumstances are meaningful and memorable. These professionals personalize their experiences and utilize bluntness in their conversations about life, risk, and parenting with family and friends. These death work professionals become risk aversive, change their friendship dynamics, learn not to take life for granted, and parent and see children differently. Some participants indicated that they experience dreams and relationship difficulties. Although study participants expressed openness to treatment and programming, this support was typically in the context of assistance for others who needed help to cope, as opposed to a treatment option they would consider."

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Gilmore, Elizabeth L. and Buckler, Kevin (2023) "Doing Death Work: A Mixed Method Examination of Imprinted Events and Behavioral Responses of Medical Examiner's Office Employees," Qualitative Criminology (QC): Vol. 12: No. 1, Article 2.
Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/qc/vol12/iss1/2