4 ms·

Why does it seem like most autopsies are done purely for curiosity, without any actual benefit to anyone living or dead?

• I_am_uncreative 3y ago
  They're often performed pursuant to law.
  • ars 3y ago
    That just moves the question to why does the law require it? Just for curiosity?
    • theultdev 3y ago
      to ensure or assure no foul play and to keep stats of what's killing us and sometimes try to mitigate those things.
    • elzbardico 3y ago
      For the same reason we investigate plane crashes, to fucking know what really happened. What is a death certificate without an autopsy is just a scratch on the surface. Sometimes we need to go deeper.
    • SoftTalker 3y ago
      The law mostly doesn't require it. Only if a crime is suspected, or perhaps in case of accidental death to determine if the accident caused the death or something else happened first (e.g. stroke, heart attack) that lead to the fatal accident (could be very important to determine liability, if any). But your average old or sick person passing away at home, generally does not get autopsied.
• NoPicklez 3y ago
  I really can't follow what you mean and fail to understand where they're being performed where there would be no benefit at all. Many of them are performed because they're required by law, to establish a cause of death both for the families but also potentially to understand if someone else was responsible for the death. Many of them are performed because outside of the above, we have historically learnt an enormous amount about the human body through studying them, particularly for unique injuries or illnesses. Otherwise, there are many that aren't performed at all