Organizations such as ZAKA in Israel and Misaskim in the United States generally guide families how to ensure that an unnecessary autopsy is not made.Īutopsies are used in clinical medicine to identify medical error, or a previously unnoticed condition that may endanger the living, such as infectious diseases or exposure to hazardous materials. Some religions including Judaism and Islam usually discourage the performing of autopsies on their adherents. The most extreme example is the examination of murder victims, especially when medical examiners are looking for signs of death or the murder method, such as bullet wounds and exit points, signs of strangulation, or traces of poison. These examinations are performed under a legal authority ( medical examiner, coroner or procurator fiscal) and do not require the consent of relatives of the deceased. When a person has given permission in advance of their death, autopsies may also be carried out for the purposes of teaching or medical research.Īn autopsy is frequently performed in cases of sudden death, where a doctor is not able to write a death certificate, or when death is believed to result from an unnatural cause. Lundberg, have charged that the reduction in autopsies is negatively affecting the care delivered in hospitals, because when mistakes result in death, they are often not investigated and lessons therefore remain unlearned.
Critics, including pathologist and former JAMA editor George D. In most Western countries the number of autopsies performed in hospitals has been decreasing every year since 1955. The principal aims of an autopsy are to determine the cause of death, mode of death, manner of death, the state of health of the person before he or she died, and whether any medical diagnosis and treatment before death was appropriate. The term "post-mortem" derives from the Latin post, 'after', and mortem, 'death'. The word has been in use since around the 17th century. The term "autopsy" derives from the Ancient Greek αὐτοψία autopsia, "to see for oneself", derived from αὐτός ( autos, "oneself") and ὄψις ( opsis, "sight, view"). Once an internal autopsy is complete, the body is reconstituted by sewing it back together. Permission from next of kin may be required for internal autopsy in some cases. Autopsies can be further classified into cases where external examination suffices, and those where the body is dissected and internal examination is conducted. If it is an infant, determine live birth and viabilityįor example, a forensic autopsy is carried out when the cause of death may be a criminal matter, while a clinical or academic autopsy is performed to find the medical cause of death and is used in cases of unknown or uncertain death, or for research purposes.Determine if death was natural or unnatural.Autopsies can be performed when any of the following information is desired: Autopsies are performed for either legal or medical purposes.
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