cause of death Archives - Off the Charts

Viewpoint: Some Arguments for More Autopsies

Detail from Rembrandt’s ‘The Anatomy Lecture of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp’

When families ask whether they should get an autopsy, what will you tell them?

When I was a nursing student at the University of Michigan, we learned anatomy by working on human cadavers. The experience left me with a deep appreciation for the beauty of the human body (even when ravaged by disease) and fundamentally shaped my view of a nurse’s role in health and healing.

The Viewpoint essay in the August issue of AJN, “When Families Ask About an Autopsy,” reemphasizes the role of the human body as a teaching tool. Author Billie Holladay Skelley points out that autopsies can also

provide definitive answers about the cause of death (offering reassurance to family members).
reveal undiagnosed genetic conditions.
improve our understanding of diseases and disease trends.
and foster advances in treatment.

Virtual or minimally invasive autopsies may be more acceptable to some families while still offering some of the benefits of a full autopsy. […]

Betsy Todd, MPH, RN2016-11-21T13:01:01-05:00August 19th, 2016|Nursing|0 Comments

Sue Hassmiller, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Senior Adviser for Nursing, has been blogging from the tornado-damaged area in Alabama. This post elucidates some of the philosophic and strategic context for the emotionally challenging Red Cross volunteer work she’s currently involved in. This and all previous posts in this series are being collected on a separate page for easy reference.—JM, senior editor/blog editor

Human Caring
It amazes me how much compassion there really is in the world. You don’t always see it day to day, but during disasters it’s the definitive order of the day. It is so refreshing to be a volunteer in this temporary health care structure we are working in and not have to worry about 10-minute office visits or rushing in and out of patients’ rooms trying to get it all done before the bell rings for the day. The Red Cross simply (with guidelines, of course) directs us to attend to all human needs (ok, yes, we do have forms to fill out). Therefore, a visit to a distraught family could take 10 minutes, 10 hours, or 10 months.

The devastation is so great here that as long as there are people to volunteer and the financial resources to carry on, this job will go on for years. A few of the groups that are here besides the Red Cross […]