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“I thought, ‘Why would it be horrible? This body is just what was left behind,” Joye recalls 36 years later. Indeed, Joye would soon learn that there’s nothing to fear about death – that, in fact, death can teach many lessons about how to live. “The next week, after many, many warnings and trying to scare me off, the (morgue workers) allowed me to see how they prepared a (dead) body. I began to read articles about forensics. I got to go over to the medical school and watch a forensic autopsy. That was just absolutely it for me.” Joye vividly remembers the autopsy, a young man lacking a helmet killed in a motorcycle accident. She remembers the trauma to the head, the police officer present, the pedal marks visible on the deceased man’s feet. But what she remembers most of all is the way the doctor showed compassion for the man’s family. “I heard the discussion between the doctor and the family and I knew I wanted to help people in this manner. I’ve never looked back,” she said.
“Even though my work is concerned with investigating death, through death you learn to appreciate life and know what is important in life,” explained Dr. Joye. “Through my work, I specialize in helping people cope with the death of a loved one and using it as an educational opportunity to prevent death.” Dr. Joye will share how she uses her expertise to bring hope and health to her community as a keynote speaker at Wheat Ridge Ministries’ National Symposium on Health and Hope in October. Known for being straightforward, almost blunt, Dr. Joye speaks factually about death, yet passionately about preventing it. This passion has placed Dr. Joye in the unique position of community advocate, speaking out against violence, reckless driving and drugs. “Through working with troubled children, analyzing drugs, weapons, and lifestyles that lead to premature death, I give information back to the community,” said Dr. Joye. “I do a lot of community education and what I call personal pathology.” Dr. Joye remembers two cases in Houston that inspired her to action. A teenage girl died when she rear-ended a Mack truck while applying make-up in the car. Two more teens were killed drag-racing through the city. Working with Mothers Against Drunk Drivers and local authorities, Dr. Joye used the mangled cars and personal stories to counsel teens throughout the city to make wiser choices. “You talk about death in a way that you can learn about death and help the living. It’s not magic or on TV. It’s the reality. This didn’t have to happen,” she said. This passion for saving future lives was also the impetus behind Dr. Joye’s decision to start her own forensic consulting firm in 2002. The new role allowed her to be more active in community education, while also serving as an expert legal witness for both victims and the accused who often have limited financial resources. Dr. Joye hopes her testimony shared at the symposium will inspire others, whatever their expertise or role, to similarly impact their communities for hope and health. “I want to share with people who are looking at grassroots movements, people who want to know, ‘Can I make a difference in the big world?’ I believe it takes someone with the idea, the dedication and the spiritual strength to strike out and help people,” she said.
“Death knows no politics, creed, income, ethnicity, or vehicles you drove,” Dr. Joye explained. “It’s one thing we’re equal in. From that aspect, you understand more of what Jesus was trying to teach us.” Twenty-five years of practicing forensic pathology has placed Dr. Joye at the center of many famous death investigations, political pressures and media scrutiny. Yet through it all, she’s remained steadfast and strong. “I’m always very firm. I believe in and serve God. Everybody else is a mere man,” she explained. “When you know who you are and whose you are, you have no reason to fear.”
Written by Jennifer Halupnik |
Dr. Joye Carter will share testimony at October Symposium
Several years, degrees and board certifications later, Joye – now Joye Carter, M.D. – became the nation’s first African-American female chief medical examiner. She served in two major American cities, Washington, D.C, and Houston, Texas, before starting her own forensic consulting firm. Dr. Joye currently works as the chief forensic pathologist to the coroner in Indianapolis, Indiana. These high-profile and often controversial positions provided ample material for her two books: My Strength Comes From Within, an autobiography, and I Speak For the Dead, a book for those grieving the death of a loved one or grappling with the ethics of death and dying.
Her spiritual strength took root early as Dr. Joye attended church as a child and rededicated herself to her Christian faith as a teenager. Her life’s work has only deepened it.