The hematopathologist as detective

Abstract

The skills required of a physician are akin to those of a detective, fictional or real. The diagnostic process is based on observation, deduction, and inference. We may thus see the hematopathologist as using the same skills as a detective. Sometimes, the hematopathologist is involved, usually inadvertently, in the detection of actual crime or other illicit activity. More often, the skills of a detective are being applied in the normal diagnostic process.