Work With the Living or Work With the Dead

The profession someone chooses can say a lot for what type of person they are.  For each profession there is a standard definition, but there is also a definition for what type of person leads that career.  The emergency room (ER) physician profession is described as a doctor who runs the emergency department as a hospital.  An ER physician is described as, “… [a person] who thrives on the relentless pace, the wide variety of patients and cases, and the challenge of making an accurate determination quickly,” as stated in “Emergency Medicine”.  In the article, “Coroner: Job Description & Career Info,” the coroner profession is described as a person who supervises and performs examinations of the deceased to find the cause of death.  A coroner is described as someone with a great eye for detail and can handle stress well. The ER physician and coroner professions are the same in the fact that both are stemmed from the medical field, but are different in the ways the jobs are approached and the how obtainable each profession is.

To become an ER physician, not only is it necessary to obtain a medical doctor degree through medical school, but it is necessary to participate in a residency in the field.   “Residencies in emergency medicine are highly competitive, so you’ll need excellent grades and recommendations from your medical school professors” (Emergency Medicine para 4).  The residency element adds more to the fact of doing well in medical school is the key to success as an ER physician.  In total, to become an ER physician, it takes about 11 years of schooling post-high school.  In hospitals, the emergency room is open 24-hours and day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.  This requires an ER physician to be in the emergency room during the hours of operation.  An ER physician’s shifts range from 8-12 hours to keep the emergency room running (Emergency Medicine para 6).  Being an ER physician requires a certain amount of endurance to be able to keep up with the long hours put in at the hospital each week.  Finding a job as an ER physician will not be a problem in the near future with the right credentials.  People will always need doctors to help them be healthy.

Like that of an ER physician, to become a coroner it is necessary to obtain a medical doctor degree through medical school.  After obtaining a M.D., it is necessary to participate in an internship and residency (Coroner: Job Description & Career Info para 5).  In total, to become a coroner, it is necessary to obtain at least 10 years of schooling post-high school.  Because a coroner has so many different duties to perform, there is no telling where the work will be done.  “…specific job duties include visiting death scenes, identifying human remains, supervising the transportation of corpses, operating crime scene equipment, completing death certificates and notifying next of kin” (Coroner: Job Description & Career Info para 2).  Working conditions for a coroner may vary from case to case.  Becoming a coroner is more complicated than finding any old job.  This is because in some states they are appointed by the government, and in other states they are elected by the people (Coroner: Job Description & Career Info para 3).  Although finding a job as a coroner can be complicated it could pay off in the end.

The ER physician and coroner professions are the same in the fact that both are stemmed from the medical field, but are different in the ways the jobs are approached and the how obtainable each profession is.  

The only question is: to work with the living, or to work with the dead.