OVERVIEW

The Institute of Forensic Sciences houses the Dallas County Medical Examiner's office and is located on the Medical Center campus. All of the medical examiners have full-time faculty appointments at Southwestern Medical School where they are actively involved in the academic and teaching program. A large volume of material reflecting both natural disease and unnatural death makes this a popular and informative rotation. The resident learns proper procedures for dealing with forensic cases and has the opportunity to see a wide range of natural disease processes outside of the usual hospital setting. Excellent crime and toxicologic laboratories are part of the facility.

Residents are expected to perform medicolegal autopsies including natural deaths, accidents, and suicides under the supervision and direction of a staff medical examiner.  Residents are not assigned homicides, but are encouraged to observe these cases.  Residents are expected to perform autopsies when appropriate cases are available.  They are not typically expected to perform more than one case in a day unless it is a weekend OR they have a particular interest in a case. When the resident is not performing an autopsy, they are expected to be available to observe those cases that are being performed by the staff and fellows.

FACULTY

• Jeffrey Barnard, M.D.
• Amy Gruszecki, M.S.F.S, D.O.
• Joni McClain, M.D.
• Stacy McDonald, Ph.D.
• James Pinckard, M.D., Ph.D.
• Reade Quinton, M.D.
• Lynn Salzberger, M.D.
• Timothy Sliter, Ph.D.
• Sheila Spotswood, M.D.
• Elizabeth Todd, Ph.D.
• Janis Townsend-Parchman, M.D.

DURATION

1 month of active case accrual, followed by a 1-month case completion period which runs concomitantly with the following Neuropathology rotation (1 month).

PREREQUISITES

Residents attending the forensic pathology rotation must have completed at least one year of residency and at least one rotation in hospital autopsy.

OBJECTIVES

Patient Care

Medical Knowledge

Practice-based Learning

Interpersonal and Communication Skills

Professionalism

Systems-based Practice

CONFERENCES

• Didactic forensic lecture series
• Heart conference (once per month)
• Brain cutting
• Neuropath microscopics

BASIC READING

• Medicolegal Investigation of Death.  Spitz and Fisher, 3rd edition.
• Forensic Pathology. DiMaio, 2nd edition.
• Gunshot Wounds. DiMaio, 2nd edition.
• Forensic Pathology: Principles and Practice.  Dolinak, Matshes, Lew