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t m c » p u l s e | o c t o b e r 2 0 1 7 8 Barnhart had met with the detective just a day earlier. It was the only time she ever cried during an autopsy. But generally, medical examiners have to avoid identifying too closely with the deceased and their families if they want to continue to be successful at their jobs. "You really can't let your- self do that," she said. "Once you start doing that, it's going to be very difficult to come back from that emotionally." One of the most rewarding aspects of her work, she said, is when she can explain to a family why a loved one died of seemingly mysterious circum- stances. Often, it's the result of an undiagnosed condition that runs in families, such as heart disease, and she Nobody here is in pain. Nobody here is suffering. The family members here aren't facing complicated end-of-life medical decisions. It's a rather peaceful place. — ERIN BARNHART, M.D. Earn a degree or certicate in one of 20 fast-growing CAREERS in medicine HCC Coleman is a leading health science community college in the nation and the only one of its kind residing in the world-renowned Texas Medical Center. Learn more about our health care programs hccs.edu/coleman HCC_TMCPulse1/2pagAd.indd 1 8/22/17 6:33 AM can advise the rest of the family about potential health dangers. Though all of Barnhart's patients are deceased, those cases may help her save other lives. She can also tell parents of infants who died under unclear circum- stances about undiagnosed conditions those children had. Often, parents blame themselves for a child's death, assuming it resulted from some sort of mistake they made, like an unsafe sleep- ing position. But many times, Barnhart discovers the death is actually due to an undiagnosed medical condition, which helps assuage the parents' guilt. "You can definitively go to the parents and say, 'This was not your fault,'" she said. "'Nobody knew about it, and there's not anything you could have done about it.' That mother still doesn't have her baby, but at least she can say, 'I did everything I could have.'" But most importantly, Barnhart says the job has given her an appreciation for the fragility of human life itself. As the person who looks into all accidental deaths in the region, she sees firsthand just how easily—and seemingly ran- domly—life can be taken away. "You can eat right, and exercise every day, and always wear your seat- belt," she said. "You can make every decision correctly and still be walking along on a sidewalk and get hit by a car. And there's not a damn thing you can do about it."