unit 1.1: postmortem examination

Considered the ultimate medical audit

five different rulings for manner of death

when can a medical examiner or coroner order an autopsy without consent from next of kin

first recorded autopsy

which stab wound was fatal?

• Song Ci

• an instruction manual on how to conduct medico-legal investigations, examine corpses, and determine the time and cause of death

• forward-thinking forensic issues

  • poisoning, decomposition, wounds from various weapons, strangulation, and fake wounds

first-known legal autopsy where the death was investigated explicitly to determine if there was fault

Anatomy teachers and students in medical schools did not perform dissections themselves. They would congregate in an operating theater and watch as a cadaver was opened by a ___

• The father of modern pathology

• Realized the importance of the microscope when conducting pathological research to uncover minute details

• characterized a case of leukemia; one of the earliest formal reports on this cancer

Why Perform PME?

Wherever Scientific medicine of ___ is practiced, postmortem examinations are performed

performs autopsies on patients who die at Massachusetts General Hospital and patients who die outside of the hospital who have had some Mass General care

The Autopsy service performs approximately ___

#1 Research Hospital in America and the only hospital to be recognized in all 16 specialties assessed by U.S. News & World Report.

Why Perform PME?

Wherever a conscientious physician knows why ___, a post mortem examination has been performed

Why Perform PME?

Whenever ___ is enforced.

Why Perform PME?

Whenever a death certificate shows accurately the ___ for the assembling of vital statistics, a postmortem has been performed

Why Perform PME?

Whenever there is ___ on the causes and nature of diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and stroke, infectious diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and transplantation medicine, the investigative method is postmortem examination

Why Perform PME?

An ___ requires a postmortem examination in human death for the good of medical science, for the public’s health and for the future care of the living patient

Preparations Before PME

1. obtain and confirm consent for autopsy

2. obtain and review clinical data

3. contact clinical team and staff pathologist

Preparations Before PME

1. set up dissection instruments and tools

2. lay out swabs, media, etc. for ancillary studies to be performed

3. prepare photographic equipment

4. PPE

Preparations Before PME

1. most important step in autopsy procedure

2. identifiers on the body must be confirmed and matched with autopsy consent form

3. confirm any limitations or restrictions to autopsy at this time

PME Preliminaries

Consent for Autopsy

Consent form should be signed in the ___

in which all body cavities are examined (including the head / brain)

which may exclude the head / brain

where specific organs only are examined

When is an autopsy allowed?

When it is ordered by the ___

When is an autopsy allowed?

When it is necessary to complete ___

When is an autopsy allowed?

When the deceased himself has given consent before he died

When is an autopsy allowed?

___ who dies in active duty/training in the military service

Autopsy Facts

An autopsy is usually carried out within ___ after the death

Autopsy Facts

ordered by the state coroner

Autopsy Facts

performed at the request of the family of the deceased

Autopsy Facts

forensic

Autopsy Facts

gross findings

Autopsy Facts

gross and microscopic findings