Once commonly performed by hospitals, autopsies are rarely conducted these days, depriving doctors and the medical profession of vital information. Fifty years ago, about half of patients who died in hospitals received autopsies. Now that number has shrunk to barely 5%. This means that diagnostic errors go undiscovered and physicians will continue to make the same mistakes on other patients. It also means lost opportunities for the healthcare industry to learn about the effectiveness of medical treatments and the progression of diseases, as well as inaccurate information winding up on death certificates. About one of four Americans dies in hospitals.

 

Medicare and private insurance companies do not reimburse hospitals for autopsies, which cost an average of $1,275 to perform. Instead, Medicare includes autopsies in general payments. Dr. John Sinard, director of autopsy service for the Yale University School of Medicine, told ProPublica that “The hospital is going to get the money whether they do the autopsy or not, so the autopsy just becomes an expense,”

 

At teaching hospitals, which are usually nonprofit, the autopsy rate is approximately 20%, but at the 80% of hospitals that are private or community-run, the rate is in the low single digits.

-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff