A postmortem examination, or autopsy, is performed on a deceased body to determine the cause of death. It can also be used for medical study or forensic purposes. Family permission may be required, and some religions forbid autopsies.
A post mortem examination is also called an autopsy. It is a series of studies and usually a dissection performed on a deceased body and can be conducted for a variety of reasons. Doctors or coroners usually conduct a postmortem examination to determine the cause of death, whether medically or potentially legally. Autopsies and dissections can also be performed as part of study in the medical profession so that students can learn and identify the various internal structures of the body and visualize internal organs or structures that show signs of certain diseases. Veterinarians may also conduct autopsies on animals and may do so if they suspect a disease dangerous to other animals or at the request of the pet’s owner.
A coroner or forensic examiner performs a postmortem examination when the cause of death is suspected or cannot be determined. The examination may include not only evaluating internal structures, but could also include careful examination of the outside of the body to look for signs of trauma or residual evidence that could suggest a crime has been committed. The forensic examiner may also evaluate tissue and blood samples for evidence of crime or simply to determine the cause of death. This information is summarized and can help provide valuable insight into potential suspects or the actions that led to a person’s death. Typically, these forms of autopsy do not require permission from family members and in some cases may be required by law.
Hospitals that wish to perform a postmortem examination on an individual usually need to obtain permission from the family, unless the cause of death is identifiable or determined to be potentially criminal behavior. It can be helpful to have a cause of death analyzed when doctors are unsure which medical conditions were responsible for a death, and this is especially true when patients suffer from rare medical problems that are not studied on a frequent basis. Physicians who conduct a postmortem examination can gain valuable information that helps them change or target treatment for other patients in the future.
There are reasons family members may request that a postmortem examination not be performed. They may have strong religious beliefs that a person’s body is essential to accessing the afterlife. Many religions forbid (or have in the past) any examination or dissection of a body after death, which posed great problems for the medical community. To conduct an autopsy, doctors or servants employed by doctors might steal bodies from freshly dug graves. Before the proliferation of autopsies, assumptions about what the body’s internal structure looked like were very often incorrect, creating huge errors in treatment. Some religions or sects still forbid a postmortem examination in all but very grave circumstances.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
