Autopsy

An autopsy (also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy or obduction) is a medical procedure that consists of a thorough examination performed on a corpse after death, to evaluate disease or injury that may be present and to determine the cause and manner of a person's death.

Other information

The principal aim of an autopsy is to discover the cause of death, to determine the state of health of the person before they died, and whether any medical diagnosis and treatment before death was appropriate. Studies have shown that even in the modern era of use of high technology scanning and medical tests, the medical cause of death is wrong in about one third of instances unless an autopsy is performed. In about one in ten cases the cause of death is so wrong that had it been known in life the medical management of the patient would have been significantly different.

Related Topics:
Death - Diagnosis

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In the United States, and most Western countries, the number of autopsies performed in hospitals has been decreasing every year since 1955. Critics, including pathologist and former JAMA editor George 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 learned from.

Related Topics:
United States - Western countries - Pathologist - JAMA - Editor - George Lundberg

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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.

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An 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 be due to an unnatural cause. These examinations are performed under a legal authority (Medical Examiner or Coroner) and do not require the consent of relatives of the deceased. 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.

Related Topics:
Coroner - Murder - Bullet - Strangulation - Poison

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