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Want to see an autopsy? Not here |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Monday, 06 June 2005 |
BY STAN FINGER
The Wichita Eagle
Kansas--Amber Burke's not afraid to admit it: She'd love to watch an autopsy.
"In no way am I morbid," insists Burke, a 27-year-old mother who works in a west-side jewelry store. "It's interesting."
She has been fascinated by forensic science -- popularized by "CSI" and other television shows -- since she was a child, she said.
But if she were to call the Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center, officials would say what they say to virtually everyone else who has asked to observe an autopsy:
"No."
"We do get a lot of questions, and we do get a lot of interest," said Shari Beck, forensic administrator for the center, 1109 N. Minneapolis.
The only people allowed to watch autopsies are medical students and law enforcement officials involved in criminal cases. That's because of rigid controls about avoiding contamination of evidence, as well as liability and legal issues, she said.
"Our autopsies really are medical procedures," Beck said.
Requests to witness autopsies are typically highest in the spring, she said, and often come from college biology or criminal justice classes.
"There's always been an interest," Beck said. "It's probably increased with some of these shows."
Beck was referring to the "CSI" trio -- the original, plus spin-offs set in Miami and New York -- and "Cold Case Files," which often feature autopsies as a key part of the effort to solve criminal cases.
CBS's "CSI" has consistently been a favorite among Wichita television viewers. Burke's co-workers are "CSI" junkies, though she prefers "Cold Case Files" on the cable channel A&E.
"You can keep track of any case from start to ending," said Tracy Blair, one of Burke's co-workers, explaining why she loves "CSI."
But those programs can leave viewers with a misperception of what autopsies -- indeed, forensic sciences in general -- are like.
When prospective students say they want to go into forensics, Peer Moore-Jansen, a biological anthropology professor at Wichita State University, asks, "Why?"
He wants to see whether the students have been seduced by what they've seen on television.
"We struggle, especially at the undergraduate level, with students who think they're going to do 'CSI,' " Moore-Jansen said. "Very few of the people who have decided to follow through on this (area of study) were tempted by 'CSI.' "
Burke doesn't have designs on becoming a forensic pathologist. She's just intrigued, she said, by how much autopsies can tell investigators about how someone lived -- and how they died.
"I think everyone's fascinated with death," she said.
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/local/11823756.htm |
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