Medical examiner says the worst death she has seen is the case of man who was thrown down a manhole into boiling water

What you consider to be the worst way to die is ultimately going to be a subjective decision - some might fear enclosed spaces, and so getting trapped in a cave might be their top choice.

But I think we can all agree that getting thrown down a manhole into boiling water would suck really bad.

Just so you know, this isn't a hypothetical scenario - this actually happened to a poor soul, as revealed by a New York medical examiner who went into detail about why this was the worst death she's come across.

Needless to say, things are about to get pretty gruesome from here on out so be warned.

Now, Dr Judy Melinek is a former medical examiner, having chosen the Big Apple to pursue her career over LA.

Speaking to the New York Post about why she opted for this city, she explained that she was told by her chief resident: "If you really want to learn forensic pathology, do a rotation in New York City. All kinds of great ways to die there."

Instagram/@drjudymelinek

But there's one that really sticks out to Melinek, and that is the case of Sean Doyle. "The worst nightmares I ever had in my two years at OCME came after I performed the postmortem examination of Sean Doyle," she said.

Although she is often asked about the worst way to die, Melinek normally replies, "You don't want to know."

But when people really insist, she goes into the story of Doyle, a bartender who went out drinking with his friend Michael Wright and Wright’s girlfriend back in 2002.

It's believed the pair got into a fight after his friend accused Doyle of flirting with his partner.

Although the details on the argument are murky, what we do know is the night ended with the bartender being thrown around 18 feet into an open manhole.

Due to a broken main, there was scalding, boiling hot water at the bottom.

Marisa Mikorey/Stockimo/Alamy Stock Photo

Now, brace yourselves - you see, Doyle didn't pass away straight away. On the contrary, even when emergency services turned up he was still alive and standing at the bottom, shouting and screaming for help.

But The Post states that no one could get down there, as an official said it was around 300 degrees (148C).

It took four hours before Doyle's boiled body was retrieved, with temperature readings showing it had reached 125 degrees (51C), although Melinek said it was likely higher as 125 was the max reading on the thermometer.

By the time the remains reached the doctor's autopsy table, she realised Doyle's skin had completely peeled off and his internal organs were cooked.

She said it looked like he had 'been steamed like a lobster'.

Since he had no head trauma or broken bones, it meant he was fully conscious as he suffered this horrific fate.

And if that weren't bad enough, TikToker @tales_by_angie shared a video on the case in which he said: "What makes this the worst death ever is that steam burns, no matter how severe, do not destroy nerve endings the way flames do.

"Which means Sean would have felt everything."

Reuters/Alamy Stock Photo

And if that doesn't give you nightmares, I don't know what will.

As for what happened to Wright, reports at the time state that he was charged with second-degree murder, although it's not listed online.

One person pointed out the fact that Wright's girlfriend said they were just roughhousing, meaning the manhole incident was likely just an accident.

An accident that ended in arguably the most horrific death New York has ever seen.