The Vanishing Nonforensic Autopsy

Abstract

We've all heard about cases in which a patient presumed to have died from acute myocardial infarction was discovered at autopsy to have had an aortic dissection, or a patient who presented with decompensated liver failure from presumed alcoholic cirrhosis but proved at autopsy to have widely metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma. Indeed, an extensive literature documents the frequency with which autopsy reveals clinically significant diagnoses that were missed before death.¹ Autopsies also generate more accurate vital statistics, provide pathological descriptions of new diseases, and offer powerful tools for education and quality assurance (see Benefits of Nonforensic Autopsies). Yet despite these benefits, . . .