Why are there only women as ME's on all 3 L&O shows? They are great, but do they have more expertise than men? What do you guys think?

thats a very good observation...i never noticed it before. hmmm....
maybe they dont work well with the living? lol

In nursing, I did my first autopsy, and I didn't eat for three days!

really?! did the body smell bad? o.o

Some parts, I won't mention unless you want to know. PM me!

lol! i totally do! but to become an ME, you have to go through the same type of schooling as a doctor right?

More, they are the Dr.'s who give the MD's the diagnosis! They make a ton of cash!!

i would think they would make tons of cash, with all the stuff they have to go through. i couldnt do it ~_~

I thought I remember a man doing at least one or two Autopsies...but you are right the primary ME in all the L&O shows are women...could it be because they needed to get more women on the show...

The new ABC show w/Angie Harmon "Womens Murder Club" has a female ME, as does CSI Miami. Women are smart!

That is so true...lol

And they are red heads, except Rogers, but she's a good actress no doubt.

I was scared, thanks Bubba! Isn't it a weird topic, but true.

Tamara Tunie isn't a redhead.

well, at least here, there are much more women studying medicine and biology. So it makes sense that there are more women working in that field my doctor once told me that more men fail at the sight of blood and needles than women do so that may also be the reason.

I love Rodgers by the way, but I miss her old short red haircut!

I graduated with a Biology degree and teach in junior high school...and I tell you what the male teachers I had in college, lets just say some of them didn't want a woman in their field...

I used to work at an answering service and one of the offices we answered for was the county's ME. There were six MEs in the office (that went on call anyhow) and only two of them were male... So I'm not sure if that's just a coincidence, but there's some real life experience to back up the majority of women.

I'm an OBGYN nurse and did pathology, my first autopsy, I dropped the rib cage and broke it and didn't it for 3 days! The ME said, well just sew him up enough to hold hin together. OK,What did you say I thought?

Sorry, screwed up, I didn't eat for 3 days! Too early guys.

I'll try to make this story as short as I can (but I'm not too good at short!). I'm a nurse, too. We never did autopsies, so the only dead bodies I've seen are those in the hospital who have just died. When my older kids were 13, 11, and 8 their father (my first husband--I was newly married to #3) was killed in a car accident. My ex-mother-in-law insisted the kids needed to see his body the day before the funeral. I could see my 11 y/o son was NOT wanting to go, but against my better judgment I let his grandma talk him into it. It was very traumatic for him and he refused to go to the funeral until I PROMISED he would not have to see his father's body, even from a distance. A few months later I was working one Saturday and my new husband took the kids to church (we are Seventh-day Adventists). This was a large church on the campus of a college. When I got home I found out that my 11y/o's Sabbath school class had taken a field trip to the Biology department to see a couple of cadavers. My son didn't have the nerve to refuse to go in, so when I got home he was pretty upset. Upset doesn't begin to describe my emotions! They took a field trip without getting permission, or even notifying the parents at all. I called the teacher and he explained that they do this once a year to show the kids the "wonder of God's creation". I told him all my objections, especially that my son was already traumatized by his father's death. But he didn't see why I was so upset. In 20 years, no parent had ever complained! I called the pastor of the church and got the same reaction--"what's the big deal?" "Its a wonderful learning experience for the kids." So I wrote letters to everyone I could think of--every member of the church board (at least 30 people--its a huge church), the Sabbath School superintendent, the president of the college, the head of the Biology department, and I can't even remember who else. I got the same reply from ALL of them. "Sorry your son was uncomfortable, but we feel this is a valuable learning experience for the children and there has never been a complaint from a parent before." Needless to say, we never went back to that church. We began attending a smaller church about 30 miles away--MUCH more nurturing to my children! My son turned out great. He will be 30 in a couple of weeks and just made me a "Grammy" for the first time in March.
OK, not so short, but believe me I could have made it much longer!
And back to the topic at hand--I had noticed all the women MEs. I love Rogers, her dry wit cracks me up.

what?! o.o

Yeah, you've seen how they cut in a Y to be able to open them all up. When you've done what you need to, you sew them up with line like fishing wire, enough to hold them together until the funeral home picks them up.

oh yea i knew about that but...i didnt know they yank out the rib cage.

I'm never thought about that before, but you're right most me's on law and order are women!

You have a point there! She may be next week.LOL!

Man, ME's are one of the highest paid MD's.

Women are better at faking certain things.

and.. experience teaches you this does it?

*bug*

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

You rock, bug. ;-))


spook

From experience, these LOCI and all L&O, the lady ME's know there stuff!

Of course they yank out the rib cage- it's how they get to the upper organs.....I find the entire process fascinating. We are quite a machine! Fearfully and wonderfully made.

Death is a natural part of life, but no child should be forced by anyone to go to a wake if they are not ready to go. That's just cruel....particularly when it's a parent. WHile I think it's important for a child to go to a parent's wake, it's more important that the child be prepared, not just shoved into a room by family members who think they should be there.

I'm glad your son wasn't scarred by the experience.

Thanks CI. If it weren't for the circumstances and if the parents had been informed and if the kids had non-humiliating way to back out if they didn't want to go--I actually would have approved of the field trip and would have encouraged my kids to go (and maybe gone with them!).

I tend to techno-babble through most fantasy medical lit better than my male counter-parts.

So yes. It does.

*nathalie*

You have to weigh every organ, drain the blood, plus the intestines, take tiny samples of tissue, to determine the cause of death. I;d married the first pathologist, but I begged not to do kids, and we never knew when we had an autopsy, until we came into work that morning. Carried alot of frozen parts, like legs cut from the knee down. Talk about heavy frozen! Think about dropping that on ya! OOCH!

The only person who could make an autopsy funny was scully on Xfiles. There was one she was doing she got hungry for pizza after looking at stomach contents and found out they had pizza and the pizza delivery guy was the murder, but Mulder ended up with the pizza and the guy going after him, and then when she did the second autospy realized he was the murder and rescued mulder.

One of my closest friends is a pathologist and is currently between gigs working in various county coroner's offices. Since people die any time and all the time, he was always getting paged to go in and do autopsies almost every time we were on the phone together (I used to jokingly call his pager the 'bat signal'). But yes kid autopsies still bug him and yes he regularly goes to see a shrink (occupational hazard I think).

The Vault

There's no way I could have done a kid or baby! Sometimes they take hours to do.

So I'm told...also I understand that floaters can be as bad if not worse than kids (I guess it all depends on how long they were in the water).

The Vault

SUch a pleasant discussion.....talk about desensitization....

I could do without the smells and the bugs, but the rest of it would be very interesting. I highly recommend the Human Bodies exhibit if it comes to your town. Outstanding. The babies were the hardest to observe, but it was all very educational and a test of inner strength.

I did,'t ever do floaters, Imy first was an old man with his eyes wide open and as blue as the sky! I asked Dr. Harrison, if he wouldn't mind to close his eyes! He laughed, and he didn't have a mask on or any surgical attire, and boy was I decked out in scrubs mask gloves feet covers, you name it! He asked me if I would give up my mask, and I almost hit him!!LOL!

I think we should chande the topic to Morgue on LOCI, including men?

They don't though!! Unless they are on the level of Baden and Lee. But you have to respect them because they do the worst job in the world and get paid nothing. WOW!! However, I do remember a few epis with men but you are mostly right. But I would hate to miss Rogers. I really like her. 'There is a reason I work with dead people' YEAH!!

I also love David McCallum as Duckie on NCIS. Even at the age of 103 he is still easy on my eyes ...

I think it was wrong for the church to take kids to see cadavers without their parents permission. It was also wrong for TPTB to have such a nonchalant attitude. I am glad that your son turned out ok and congratulations on becoming a Grammy!

I think it is cool that the ME's on Law and Order are women. One of the things I have always liked about L&O is that they have strong female characters.

ME's are very important Dr.'s, and I respect them temendously! I wish I was an ME instead of a nurse! (More cash) Giggle....KK

Not only that, but ME's "patients" don't complain. ;-PP


spook - who is a personal caregiver and makes even less than a nurse :-)

Would love to be a ME for the Major Case squad if Goren would be making rounds often. I wouldn't push him away like Rodgers does.

MF, I would make more money! Bobby would love it, he might quit!