The Lancet
The Lancet: "Autopsy
Michael J Clark a
Derived from the Greek and Latin autopsia, meaning "seeing for oneself", the word "autopsy" has been in use since the 17th century to refer to post-mortem examination of the human body to reveal evidence of organic disease or to discover medical causes of death. Before the late 18th century, anatomical dissections were fairly commonplace, but it was rare for autopsies to be done purely to investigate disease processes or ascertain cause of death. Not until the 20th century did post-mortem examinations become the preserve of hospital and forensic pathologists, by which time the word autopsy had displaced the hitherto preferred term "necropsy".
Far from seeing for oneself, as coroners and coroners' juries had formerly done in inquest cases, pathologists now did all the necessary "seeing" on society's behalf in specially designed mortuaries. The "view" of the body to confirm the identity of the deceased thus became separated from the autopsy to find the cause of death. From the mid-19th century, pathologists also began to lay down protocols for the conduct of autopsies "rules about how to "see", what to look for, where, and in what order. Increasingly, they came to distinguish "true" post-mortem appearances from "artifacts" and other misleading phenomena that occurred after death, and, more reluctantly, to accept that even "true" post-mortem appearances did not always reveal the cause of death.
In the 20th century, as different ways of investigating disease processes multiplied, the art of "seeing" on the basis of pathological changes became increasingly divorced from diagnostic practice. Once regarded as the fount of all knowledge about causes of disease and death, the autopsy has now largely been pre-empted by the biopsy and a raft of othe"
Michael J Clark a
Derived from the Greek and Latin autopsia, meaning "seeing for oneself", the word "autopsy" has been in use since the 17th century to refer to post-mortem examination of the human body to reveal evidence of organic disease or to discover medical causes of death. Before the late 18th century, anatomical dissections were fairly commonplace, but it was rare for autopsies to be done purely to investigate disease processes or ascertain cause of death. Not until the 20th century did post-mortem examinations become the preserve of hospital and forensic pathologists, by which time the word autopsy had displaced the hitherto preferred term "necropsy".
Far from seeing for oneself, as coroners and coroners' juries had formerly done in inquest cases, pathologists now did all the necessary "seeing" on society's behalf in specially designed mortuaries. The "view" of the body to confirm the identity of the deceased thus became separated from the autopsy to find the cause of death. From the mid-19th century, pathologists also began to lay down protocols for the conduct of autopsies "rules about how to "see", what to look for, where, and in what order. Increasingly, they came to distinguish "true" post-mortem appearances from "artifacts" and other misleading phenomena that occurred after death, and, more reluctantly, to accept that even "true" post-mortem appearances did not always reveal the cause of death.
In the 20th century, as different ways of investigating disease processes multiplied, the art of "seeing" on the basis of pathological changes became increasingly divorced from diagnostic practice. Once regarded as the fount of all knowledge about causes of disease and death, the autopsy has now largely been pre-empted by the biopsy and a raft of othe"
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