The autopsy is an unparalleled aid to quality assessment and refinement of diagnostic technique. It produces information essential to credible medical research and public health planning. Yet the modern medical student's introduction to the autopsy may involve more slides than bodies and more videotape than instruments. And although this procedure is best defined as postmortem surgery, fewer and fewer institutions make appropriate practical provisions for it. These trends are disturbing for a number of reasons.
Autopsies are object lessons in humility for the new diagnostician.
They offer invaluable exposure to normal and abnormal anatomy. They confer important preparation for the reality that some patients will die. They are essential elements of procedural training for future pathologists. They prepare medical students for the day when they will request autopsy permission from a grieving family. The important task of talking with the family falls to both primary care physicians and pathologists.