Students' Opinions on Autopsy and Death

Abstract

Background: Autopsies are commonly seen on television, but are less common in real life. Worldwide, the autopsy rate has declined drastically over the past half century, from approximately 50% to only five to 22% in the 1990s. These percentages are inflated by the number of forensic autopsies, which suggests that hospital autopsy rates for other purposes are very low. Some students graduate without witnessing a formal autopsy, and some students and medical practitioners consider the autopsy to be of little value. The purpose of this study was to assess the thoughts and feelings of students towards autopsies at the end of their medical training.