Summertime Blues 20: Popcorn

[bookblather]

Author: Kat
Title: Popcorn
Story: In the Heart
Colors: Summertime blues 20 (Summer moved on)
Supplies and Materials: Fingerpainting (writing first person Summer is... different), frame, oils (a day of release), glitter (Exaggerate), novelty beads ("Okay, granted, I've never been hit with a salad container, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't knock you out." - from Elementary).
Word Count: 260
Rating: PG
Summary: It's wrong, but what isn't?
Warnings: none
Notes: Shipwreck Light asked Summer on the Lint Roller, "What do you think of the depiction of your profession in popular culture?" I have seen all of these things in popular shows which shall remain unnamed.


Forensic pathology does not happen the way people see it on television.

I am sure that isn't really a surprise. Almost nothing that you see on television happens that way in reality, and I suppose forensic pathology isn't a particularly egregious example. I mean, the basic equipment is usually correct, and the findings aren't entirely out of the range of possibility. I suppose.

What really bothers me is the procedure.

No one is allowed in the autopsy room without proper gloves and masks. No pathologist would perform an autopsy without a cap and gown, safety glasses too, and certainly not without gloves. Who on earth would put their bare hands into a dead body? That horrifies me, and I have worked around and with the dead for most of my adult life. I am not frightened of them. Neither am I stupid.

I have seen television pathologists with loose hair, which could contaiminate evidence removed from the bodies. I have seen pathologists working in street clothes, which could not only contaminate the evidence but will ruin the clothes. I also think that television shows vastly underestimate the amount of blood in the human body. Four quarts is quite a bit more liquid than most people realize.

I try not to say these things out loud, though. Zack and Felipe prefer to watch their television shows quietly. Unless it is the rebooted version of Homicide: Life on the Streets. Then they are sarcastic about the police work and I can complain about the pathology.

I enjoy those nights. We make popcorn.

Comments

[isana]

I would hope that NCIS wasn't one of the popular shows when it comes to lack of proper attire, but it's true, I don't remember it being particularly bloody. (but there is that ABC show that seems to break both rules flagrantly).

If it helps any, Summer, the same goes for law, most of the time.

[bookblather]

I don't think so, but I've never seen it, so. You know.

Yeah, I think she's aware. :D Thank you.

[finch]

I like her clinical voice in listing off what's wrong. No matter what your profession, I think watching people get it wrong is painful.

[bookblather]

Or at the very least hilarious. Thank you.

[rustydragonfly]

I think I speak for everyone when I say I want the fic where the three of them have popcorn nights and snark together.

[bookblather]

I'll do my best. :D Thanks.

[shipwreck_light]

Summer has a snark in her soul. I KNEW IT. KNEW IT.

*snickers happily*

[bookblather]

Of course she does! She's Ivy's little sister! You expected no sense of humor?

Thank you. :D

[dark_kana]

I like how she lists all these things that bother her with the TV shows.
Love that ending! ^^ Will you write it? :D

[bookblather]

Maybe. We'll see. Thank you!

[kay_brooke]

Oh god, what show has pathologists working without gloves? As a lab worker, that is absolutely horrifying to me. I mean, lack of other PPE is gross and dangerous too, but gloves are like the #1 priority!

Poor Summer. I would probably be ranting right along with her.

[bookblather]

I don't even remember, because I saw it and freaked out and turned that shit the hell off. BECAUSE NO. GOD. NO.

Thanks.