this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2024
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I'm a mortician and posted something similar. Morticians go through 4 years of medical school, including pathology and forensics, because it falls on us when the coroner screws up... and they have. The case that hits me the hardest was an infant being given SIDS as the cause of death, but postmortem bruising and broken bones told a different story. The owner had to call police and fake a funeral arrangement while he waited for them to arrive.
Mortuary school is an associate or bachelor level degree. Morticians do not go to medical school
My university required 2 years of medical courses; as well as 2 years of mortuary science curriculum. Multiple states I've worked in require continuing education in the medical field with exams every year. But every state and university is different. When I was stationed and worked in Colorado, I learned you don't even need a degree to be a mortician. Any person can shadow a Funeral Director and start embalming. That's terrifying.
I'll happily concede that things may have changed. I was in college 10 years ago.
Great, you went to college, not medical school. If someone graduated with a bachelor's degree in anatomy and physiology, they took more medical related classes than you, but still no one would say they went to "medical school." It's deliberately misleading and insulting to the people who actually spend over a decade becoming fully-licensed physicians. Not that dissimilar to stolen valor, frankly. Phlebotomists, nurses, etc all take medical classes and actually go on to treat patients medically, but still no one would say they went to medical school. You do a difficult and important job and you have every right to be proud of it, but you have nowhere near the level of medical knowledge or training of someone who went to medical school.
I get what you're saying, but I respectfully disagree. I don't think you understand the course load/requirements for this degree. It might be different for different schools, so I'm happy to elaborate. First of, ignore pre-reqs, like math/english/computer/etc. and let's just talk science. My university was one of the top in the nation and I was required to take the same courses as doctors for years; I had to compete with them for my grades (bell curves suck); the only difference was that my courses changed direction when it got to classes regarding curing/treating people. You don't need that for a postmortem science degree, so the next 4 semesters went into strictly death related education.
My university had us thoroughly trained on any potential medical risks, biohazards, and hospital procedures. We were dissecting, helping with autopsies, learning forensics and pathology, training in everything regarding the heart and vascular system, and don't get me started on all the chemistry/physiology... yes, the courses veered, to avoid teaching us how to cure someone, but that does not take away that we go through medical school.
We are trained to be the last line of defense for catching crimes and doctor's mistakes; we have continuing education alongside doctors, nurses, and pathologists; we have to work with people who've died of dangerous diseases and protect the public.... we just don't have to worry about curing a corpse. If you've actually read this, please start your reply with the word autopsy.
With no disrespect of the mortician above, medical schooling would be the appropriate term. Medical school is generally equivalent to a phd with an internship after.
You're correct, I should have chosen the words better. I had the same classes as doctors for years and had to compete with them for grades, but my courses veered once the classes went onto curing people. (It's a bit too late to cure them, by the time they get to us ๐ )
After that, was 4 semesters of postmortem science classes revolving around pathology, chemistry, embalming, biohazard protection, forensics, facial reconstruction; and the weird ones like funeral law/insurance, history of death, customs and religions, psychology of death and dying. I love doing reconstructions and creating prosthetics to match a photo when a person is too decomposed or injured. Giving people the chance to say goodbye and have closure is really rewarding.