Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

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

11 reviews

kimmy0__0's review against another edition

dark informative fast-paced

3.25

This was a pretty interesting book. When I was a kid I dreamed about being a forensic scientist (not necessarily a medical examiner). I didn't love the moments when she talked like she was smarter than doctors or police (police are lazy and wanted to close the case, how could this doctor not even realize xyz) Like I get it, you have an important job but don't minimize efforts/intelligence of others. She acts like cases wouldn't have been solved if it hadn't been HER doing the autopsy. Other than the ego trip, I really thought this was interesting; particularly the chapters about 9-11. Very graphic details so don't read if squeamish. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Terminal illness, Violence, Suicide attempt, Body horror, and Suicide

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Abortion, Addiction, Self harm, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Mental illness, Child death, and Gore

psychuhdelic's review

adventurous emotional informative inspiring tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Medical content, Blood, Murder, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Hate crime, Chronic illness, Car accident, Drug abuse, and Child death

markitherainbowreader's review

informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Suicide

ksuazo94's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative sad tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Medical content, Vomit, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Blood, Gore, Excrement, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Rape, Medical trauma, Grief, and Murder

rmika's review

dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Self harm, Suicide, Death, Gun violence, Medical trauma, and Murder

aaaugello's review

challenging dark emotional funny informative sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Suicide, Body horror, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, and Mental illness

Moderate: Murder, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Drug use

Minor: Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Stalking

vigil's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.5

extremely thorough and informative. it’s a great entrance into the world of forensic pathology for people who wish to enter the medical field (like me), or for anyone just plain interested. 

it’s definitely not for the lighthearted, Melinek described her work in visceral detail thar truly conveys exactly what had occurred.

i docked half a point off due to the author’s treatment of suicide. her own father killed himself when she was thirteen, which understandably colored her perception of it. but her low empathy or compassion for the suicidal, ranging from calling them delusional to downright selfish is ugly in a regular person, but willfully ignorant and harmful in a medical professional.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Car accident, Child death, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Violence, and Vomit

eatingbrains's review

challenging dark informative reflective sad fast-paced

3.75

This book makes me wonder about all the medical examiners that have had to deal with determining covid related deaths and how much they've had to endure during the pandemic.  Overall, it was a bit gruesome but I was fascinated.  If you like crime/medical dramas you'd probably enjoy this book.

Also, I'm a total nerd so when they used an SEM to look at the ends of a suture to determine if it was tied off properly I was stoked since I've used them to look at tiny shit.  It's fucking cool!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Medical content, Child death, Gore, Terminal illness, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, Car accident, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Murder, Rape, Self harm, and Stalking

alittlebitheather's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

3.0

 Treading lightly here, but I didn't care for the author's excessive characterization of suicide as a selfish act. While I get everyone has their own views on suicide, and the author's own father completed suicide, so she's entitled to her own opinion, this particular characterization felt demonizing against those who struggle with their own mental health to the point of completing suicide. As someone who struggles with their own mental health demons, I was a little shocked to see a medical professional who seemingly blamed individuals for the completion of suicide and labeled the act selfish.

It's a shame because the rest of the book was super intriguing and went into some really interesting detail about the author's training as a medical examiner. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Suicide

inkstainedworld's review

adventurous emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Suicide, Terminal illness, Gun violence, Gore, and Drug abuse