Regarding: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/04/opinion/04THU4.html?th

by Charles M. Barnard

 

Increasing the number of autopsies performed is probably the cheapest method of implementing a feedback to the health care system.

 

In addition to the reasons for not autopsying given, the fact that the responsibility of the request for autopsy is placed upon the doctor (who then usually delegates it to a nurse) results in very little push for the autopsy to be performed.

 

This is like having a policeman request an internal affairs audit on himself, and as likely to result in the desired response.

 

Any method of determining cause of death which does not include an autopsy is some sort of assumption at best, and is, when made by the practitioner, likely to be self-serving--whether intended to be or not.

 

If we want truly good health care, we need to know as much information about how and why people die as possible, and the _only_ good source of this information is an autopsy.

 

Perhaps, we need to reevaluate the legal consequences of medical mistakes.  People, including doctors, are human, and humans make mistakes.  The most useful standard for mistakes in other businesses is to use them to avoid the same or similar mistake in the future; it is poor practice to punish a person for a mistake.  It is good practice to study the mistake and figure out a way to prevent it from reoccurring.

 

Autopsies increase medical system knowledge in a way no other method or tool can, at a moderate cost.