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Making the case for more necropsies to improve patient care

Monash University, Department of Forensic Medicine, Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, 57–83 Kavanagh Street, Southbank, Australia

Correspondence to:
M A Bohensky
State Coroner’s Office, 57–83 Kavanagh Street, Southbank, Australia 3006;meganb@vifm.org

Keywords: diagnostic errors; necropsy

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In their recent study Shojania et al¹ highlight the importance of necropsy to clinical care by demonstrating how diagnostic sensitivity for three conditions is overestimated without necropsy results. This study prompted an editorial by Guly calling for more research to show that increasing necropsy rates can improve patient care.²

Clearly, the evidence establishing the value of necropsy for identifying diagnostic and management issues relevant to patient care³ is not preventing the international decline in the number of hospital necropsies. We therefore support Guly’s petition for more evidence and describe our efforts to improve communication between pathologists and clinicians to facilitate such research.

At the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, forensic necropsies are conducted on approximately 80% of hospital deaths investigated by the Coroner’s Office in Victoria, Australia.⁴ A significant barrier to using the lessons of forensic necropsy for the improvement of clinical care is the lack of communication channels between . . . [Full text of this article]