X-Message-Number: 11088
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 09:29:43 -0500 (EST)
From: Charles Platt <>
Subject: Autopsies

Interesting item in The Economist dated Jan 2nd, on page 29: 
"In 1960, roughly one in two deaths in Chicago area hospitals 
was followed up with an autopsy; that rate is now about one 
in ten. Federal data collected since 1972 show the same 
trend.... One reason is cost.... In the days before the 
health-care system began slimming down, most insurance 
policies covered the procedure. if not, hospitals politely 
picked up the tab. No longer." 
 
According to the article, the AMA is concerned about 
declining autopsy rates because autopsies are a useful check 
revealing whether care before death was competent. In 
December the Journal of the AMA proposed a minimum autopsy 
rate as a condition for hospital accreditation and/or 
Medicare reimbursement. 

As is so often the case, the interests of cryonicists run
counter to the values of the medical professiona, when death
is involved.

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