Autopsies Can Reveal Medical Mysteries

Posting Date: 04/11/2000

There?s one thing that?s inevitably going to happen to every single one of us, yet most of us avoid the subject ?- death. Even doctors, it seems, can be squeamish about the subject.

When a person dies, there?s a lot a physician can learn by requesting an autopsy, but most doctors are ill-prepared to ask a grieving family for consent, according to a report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

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Researchers evaluated how physicians went about obtaining autopsy consent at 127 teaching hospitals in the United States and discovered that only 7.1 percent of institutions supplied educational material. Also, half of all chief residents showed deficiencies in their knowledge of the autopsy procedure.

When I was in medical school, we used to be pushed to get autopsies in order to find out exactly how a patient died. This information would go into the physician?s database and basically help humanity at large.

Autopsy rates were once a common component of medical practice, but the rates have continued to fall. Today the procedure occurs in fewer than one in 10 patient deaths in teaching hospitals, according to Harvard Medical School researchers.

One problem is approaching relatives for permission to do the autopsy without sounding like a ghoul. The subject is best approached subtly, by explaining the clinical significance of pinpointing the cause of death. In reality, however, many physicians simply lie to family members by telling them they need to do the autopsy to confirm a specific disease or some other suspected cause of death.

Personally, I?ve always been fascinated by autopsies, although watching one isn?t for the faint of heart. If you?re curious about the procedure and are strong enough to watch an excellent autopsy video, I support you 100 percent and know just the product.

Again, don?t even try to view either of these two videos if you don?t think you can handle it because they could repulse you. If you?re like me, however, you?ll find the inside of the body is as beautiful as the outside.