Medical examiner reveals worst death she has seen is the case of man who was thrown down a manhole into boiling water
Ever wondered what the quickest way would become well acquainted with all the bizarre and horrifying ways to die would be?
According to Dr Judy Melinek, it's to take a job as a medical examiner in New York City. She revealed all of the terrifying ways life in the big city can kill you in her 2014 memoir Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner.
Speaking about her former job in an interview with New York Post, Dr Melinek revealed she was told that NYC had 'all kinds of great ways to die' by her chief resident while studying.
And it turns out the advice was very accurate, as she has seen pretty much everything when it comes to the deceased.
Advert
So what's the worst death she's ever encountered during her work?
Well, she has an answer for you, but be warned - it's a pretty grim way to go.
Dr Melinek revealed that her typical answer to anyone who asks about the gory details of her job is: "You don't want to know."
But if you really insist she'll retell the unfortunate case of a man named Sean Doyle.
"The worst nightmares I ever had in my two years at OCME (Office of Chief Medical Examiner) came after I performed the postmortem examination of Sean Doyle," she said.
The horrifying death of Sean Doyle
According to Dr Melinek, Doyle was a bartender in the Big Apple who'd been out drinking with his friend Michael Wright and Wright’s girlfriend on a fateful night back in 2002.
It's thought that Wright had believed Doyle was hitting on his girlfriend and the pair got into an argument. Exact details on what happened next are unclear, however, Doyle would end up at the bottom of an open manhole.
He would fall around 18 feet into the hole, landing in a pool of boiling water which was flowing from a broken main.
Doyle would miraculously survive the fall - but meet his end in a much more gruesome manner as first responders were unable to get him out of the tunnel in time due to extreme temperatures.
According to The Post, officials on the scene witnessed the man shouting and screaming for help but were unable to assist as temperatures reached a scorching 148°C.
It is here that Doyle would tragically cook to death, with Dr Melinek recalling the man looked like he'd 'been steamed like a lobster'. The outer layer of his skin had completely peeled off and his internal organs were cooked.
The story gets even more chilling after the medical examiner revealed the man had no head trauma or broken bones, meaning that he simply boiled to death.
This means it shouldn't come as any surprise that Doyle's death was the case which gave Dr Melinek the 'worst nightmares' of her time in the role.
Brenna Cooper