Autopsy: Back from the Dead**

Autopsy, long out of favor in non-forensic cases,  is enjoying a new life in some hospitals as a tool for uncovering cause of death and improving quality of care.

Cheryl Clark, “Return of the Autopsy,” Health Leaders Media,  May 1, 2014

I would like to bring your attention to an excellent article in today’s Health Leaders Media. 

The autopsy rate in America’s hospitals has dropped below 1%.   

But in some hospitals,  like Johns Hopkins, rates have spiked to 20% or more. Statistics reveal that in 35% of cases, the cause of death was missed or something unknown was found.

There’s an old shibboleth “The pathologist knows everything but it is too late.” It’s never too late to know the facts, and to share them with clinicians who are cared for patients and to let the family know precisely what led to their loved one’s death.

Tweet:  Autopsy rates are climbing from less than 1% in most hospitals to 20% or more some hospitals as a teaching and quality tool.

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My new E-book Understanding ObamaCare: Travails of Implementation: Notes of a Health Reform Watcher is now on Amazon. The Kindle edition sells for $3.99.   You may be interested in reading it since ObamaCare may determine  the outcome of the November midterm elections.  You may also order the book from Westbow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers,  or its 35,000 outlets, which include bookstores, who  can help order the book for you.   This is the first of 3 E-books on ObamaCare,  Rhe second book will be called ObamaCare Revealed,  and the third will be ObamaCare: Dead or Alive.

Richard L. Reece, MD, 1-860-395-1501,  doctor.reece@gmail.com

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