Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner

Product Description Funand full of smart science. Fans of CSI-the real kind-will want to read it (The Washington Post): A young forensic pathologists rookie season as a NYC medical examiner, and the hair-raising cases that shaped her as a physician and human being.Just two months before the September 11 terrorist attacks, Dr. Judy Melinek began her training as a New York City forensic pathologist. While her husband and their toddler held down the home front, Judy threw herself into the fascinating world of death investigation-performing autopsies, investigating death scenes, counseling grieving relatives.Working Stiff chronicles Judys two years of training, taking readers behind the police tape of some of the most harrowing deaths in the Big Apple, including a firsthand account of the events of September 11, the subsequent anthrax bio-terrorism attack, and the disastrous crash of American Airlines Flight 587.An unvarnished portrait of the daily life of medical examiners-complete with grisly anecdotes, chilling crime scenes, and a welcome dose of gallows humor-Working Stiff offers a glimpse into the daily life of one of Americas most arduous professions, and the unexpected challenges of shuttling between the domains of the living and the dead. The body never lies-and through the murders, accidents, and suicides that land on her table, Dr. Melinek lays bare the truth behind the glamorized depictions of autopsy work on television to reveal the secret story of the real morgue. Haunting and illuminating...the stories from her average workdaystransfix the reader with their demonstration that medical science can diagnose and console long after the heartbeat stops (The New York Times). Review Far from the magic we see on TV,Working Stiff describes forensic pathology in the real world. The book is a compelling and absorbing read. -- Kathy Reichs, author of the Temperance Brennan Bones seriesFascinating case studies and a refreshing irreverence toward death and autopsies make Working Stiff a funny and engrossing read. -- Sandeep Jauhar, author of Intern: A Doctors Initiation and Doctored: The Disillusionment of an American PhysicianWorking Stiff is an engrossing and revealing glimpse into the making of a medical examiner with a searing insiders view into working at the New York Medical Examiners Office during and just after 9/11. The story of how the author dealt with her fathers suicide during childhood and later had to deal with suicides as part of her duties is wrenching and compelling. -- Jan Garavaglia, M.D. (Dr. G from the Discovery Channel Series and author of How Not to DieA riveting read, at once compassionate and morbidly fascinating. -- Todd Harra, author of Over Our Dead BodiesWorking Stiff is an eye-opening, gripping account of the life of a forensic pathologist working in New York City. Whether dealing with routine autopsies, surviving relatives, or the catastrophe of September 11, Dr. Judy Melinek reveals the dignity of being human in the face of death. -- Leora Tanenbaum, author of Taking Back GodIn this engrossing tale of how Melinek became a forensic pathologist, she pulls back the sheet to show readers just what goes on after someone dies... Armchair detectives and would-be forensic pathologists will find Melineks well-written account to be inspiring and engaging. Publishers WeeklyBoth chilling and heart-warming at the same time, Judy Melineks account explains how empathy and humanity are as important working with the dead as they are with the living. She strikes the balance just right in helping us better understand what we most fear, yet still fear it all the same. -- Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director, PEN America CenterMelineks enthusiasm for her calling is always apparent, and her writing is un-self-consciously bouncy, absorbed and mordant (though not caustic).... A transfixing account of death, from the mundane to the oddly